If the Magistrate were Infested
by Chrazed
Summary: What if the Magistrate, the player character from the Terran campaign of SC1, were infested along with Kerrigan? What if he decided infestation was wonderful, and wanted to use the Swarm to infest everyone to be like him? This AU fic seeks to answer these questions, presenting the Magistrate's account of Starcraft's events from New Gettysburg through the end of Starcraft II.
1. New Gettysberg

"Commander, send Lieutenant Kerrigan with a strike force to engage the Protoss. Captain Raynor and General Duke will stay behind with the command ship."

"First you sell out every person on this world to the Zerg, then you ask us to go up against the Protoss? And you're goin' to send Kerrigan down there with no backup?"

Raynor's voice was filled with anger. Hatred, even. In the times to come, I often wondered what would have happened if we had agreed to Mengsk's plan. Would the Zerg still have done... what they did? Would more of my former comrades in arms be alive today? I don't know. But I can't regret the choice we made. Friends support one another. Even unto death.

"He's right," I said. "There are other options. More strategic ones."

Mengsk's lips curved down in an angry sneer. "I have absolute confidence in Kerrigan's ability to hold off the Protoss. But if you do not share my faith, then fine, feel free to join her on the ground. Gentlemen." Spitting out his last word, Mengsk logged out of the video conference.

Raynor sighed in frustration, then added Kerrigan to the conference. "Kerrigan, are you reading this?"

Kerrigan's face appeared on screen. "I heard. I'm going down there. Arcturus knows what he's doing."

Raynor scoffed. "Funny. I never thought of you as anyone's martyr. I'm going with you. Wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you down there while I waited safely up here."

Kerrigan rolled her eyes. "Jimmy, quit the knight in shining armor routine. It suits you sometimes, just not... not now. I don't need to be rescued—"

I interrupted. "Kerrigan, with respect, you're being foolish. None of us have faced the Protoss on the ground before. We have no idea what they're capable of. You'll want help. I'm coming to the planet too. I need to direct this personally."

Kerrigan sighed. "Fine. Commander. Raynor. I'll see you on the ground." Kerrigan's face blinked off the monitor.

"I got a bad feeling about this," Raynor muttered.

...

I stared with eyebrows furrowed at the screens in my command center in my main base on Tarsonis. _Strange_ , I thought. _I've ordered a number of bunkers and tanks to our back line, but the Zerg have barely tested our defenses. I hope that's because they're somehow capable of recognizing that we intend to protect them, and not because they're biding their time for something. The Protoss, on the other hand, keep sending attack waves. But not in overwhelming numbers. Which is strange, because our Comsat station reports that they've had enough forces to destroy our base several times over. Instead they're letting us build our army. It's almost as though their commander is reluctant to truly engage us. Maybe his skirmishing squads are merely meant as warnings to stay away. Well, if they are, we can't heed them."_ I ordered the deployment of additional tanks and marines. _Time to show the Protoss what we're made of._

Once we went on the warpath, taking out the Protoss was surprisingly easy. The only thing that was really a threat to our moving wall of tanks was their reavers, but Jimmy's fast bike and Kerrigan's lockdowns were enough to keep them under control. Once we got past their cannons and started wrecking their base, their forces began to warp out. Victory. We had defeated a superior alien force. But I wondered to what extent they had let us win.

I was reporting to Mengsk, voicing my concerns about the Protoss, when it happened. Kerrigan, who had since returned to the base with our army, suddenly broke into the conference. "This is Kerrigan," she said. "There's a wave of Zerg advancing on this position. Too many to handle. We need immediate evac."

My eyes jumped to the screens showing the paths between our base and the Zerg's, and I cursed under my breath. Flooding into our base was more Zerg than I'd ever seen before, including several hulking monsters we had never previously encountered on the field of battle.

"Yes," I agreed, opening a channel to the captain of the Hyperion. "Send us dropships ASAP!"

"BELAY THAT ORDER!" Mengsk barked at the captain. "We're moving out."

"WHAT?!" Raynor roared, his face appearing in the video conference. "You're not just going to leave us?"

Mengsk ignored him, and opened a channel to the rest of the fleet. "All ships, prepare to move away from Tarsonis on my mark."

My mouth hung open. I knew Mengsk was ruthless, but this?

Raynor was less tongue-tied. "Damn you, Arcturus!" he shouted. "Don't do this!"

Mengsk looked back at our video conference. "It's done," he said, his lips curling upward in a cruel smile. "Helmsman," he addressed the captain of the Hyperion. "Signal the fleet, and take us out of orbit. NOW!"

"They're... they're really leaving us to die," said one of my aides, looking wide-eyed at the instruments near her that were reporting the departure of our battlecruisers.

"Uh... Commander? Jim? What do we do?" Kerrigan asked, as stunned as I was.

I exhaled nervously. "The only thing we can do," I answered. "Take as many of them with us as possible." I turned to regard the monitors showing our base. My defensive line of bunkers and tanks had lasted mere minutes. Those new giant Zerg could withstand tank shells like they were nothing. The streets of our base were beginning to swarm.

I opened a general communications channel. "All units, I am ordering a full retreat. Try to make it to our forward expansion, and kill everything you can along the way."

"I got mutas on my tail!" Raynor cut in, and I turned my attention to the screen showing his Vulture speeding through the infested streets.

"Try to shake them!" I responded, before opening a channel to the building commanders. "Lift off!" I shouted. "Get us away from the grounded zerg! If we're lucky, we can survive the mutas long enough to reach safety." I knew that this was a slim chance at best. Still, I also ordered our forward base to begin the construction of more defenses. Wouldn't be enough, but I had to do what I could.

"My cloaking energy is about to run out," Kerrigan chimed in as I felt my command center begin to move through the air. "I'm pinned down by our northern supply depots! They're all over; I need reinforcements!"

"I'm sorry!" I replied, a lump in my throat. "There aren't any that could feasibly make it to you! Kill as many as you can."

"No!" Raynor shouted. "Hang on Sarah! I'm coming for you!"

His Vulture's computer reported that it had turned around, ready to dive under the chasing mutalisks.

"No! Jim!" I cried. "Don't be a fool!"

He didn't respond. I watched as his bike's health wireframe moved into the yellow, then the red.

Then the command center lost power. All my screens went dark.

"Sir, Mutas took out our power generator," my aide reported.

"Get some of our internal SCV's down there to try and repair it," I ordered.

The aide nodded, and began to talk into her battery-powered headset.

As for me, I'd done all I could. If my projections were correct, the command center's health wireframe was now approaching the red. Fires would start soon. Then, we would explode. Now I sat, helpless, waiting for the end. In times like these, men are disposed to reflect on themselves and their lives. The first thing I noticed was how calm I felt, now that I'd accepted my death. There was nothing more to strive for. No confederate schooling to get the best grades in, or beta squadron military raids to win with minimal losses. I did not even have the minor colonial worries that come with being forced to be a magistrate on a backwater planet. And I certainly no longer shared the goals of Mengsk's campaign. For the first time in my life, I did not strive for anything. I could simply exist.

At least until the tendrils of Zerg infestation wound their way through the hallways to me.


	2. Egression

"Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright."

I awoke, as the voice commanded. I realized I'd spent the last however-long dreaming. All I could remember were strange images, of batlike wings and insects and faces full of fear and horror.

"Know that I am the Overmind, the eternal will of the swarm, and that you have been created to serve me."

The... swarm? What had happened? I opened my eyes. I was still on Tarsonis. In the Zerg base that we had been defending. I recognized the wriggling alien structures. I had never seen them up close with my own eyes before. Where once I had seen them in monitors and felt revulsion, now I felt... comfort.

"Behold that I shall set you amongst the greatest of my cerebrates, that you might benefit from their wisdom and experience."

I looked down at myself, and inhaled sharply. I was covered in... an exoskeleton. A bony plate covered my chest, meeting other plates over my legs, arms, and - I raised sharpened fingers to my cheek - even my face. Then I felt new appendages. My eyes widened in surprise as I realized I now had wings. Huge batlike wings spreading out behind me. I wiggled them around, marveling at the new sensation.

"Yet your purpose is unique. While they carry forth my will to the innumerable broods, you have but one charge entrusted to your care."

I paid more attention to the voice. I was hearing it in my head. For some reason, this didn't strike me as strange. Maybe I'd been hearing a lot of voices in my head while I'd been sleeping.

"For I have found a creature that may yet become the greatest of my agents. Even now, it resides within a protective chrysalis, awaiting its rebirth into the swarm."

A chrysalis? I examined my surroundings more closely. Sure enough, nestled in the folds of a nearby hatchery was a pulsating cocoon-like object, about the size of an adult human being. What creature slept inside? I caught a glimpse of my own bony wing as I absent-mindedly moved it around. Maybe... yes, now that I looked, scattered around the ground at my feet were large strips of flesh arranged in such a way as to give the impression that a huge organic object, located right where I was standing, had recently exploded. So I had come from a Chrysalis as well. But then, who...

"You must watch over the Chrysalis, and ensure that no harm comes to the creature within it. Go now and keep safe my prize."

As the Overmind's final words reverberated in my head, a compulsion began to take hold of me. It was a strange experience, something like the need to straighten a crooked picture frame, or to quiet a wailing baby, only more forceful and alien. It told me to enter the nearby hatchery and assume control of the Zerg forces in this area. I obeyed it; I had to obey it, for the sake of my own sanity.

I hesitated briefly when I arrived at the gaping maw that was the entrance to the hatchery, and then took the plunge. I wandered pulsating hallways for some time, following some unspoken instinct, until I came to the chamber I was looking for. It was the nerve center of the hatchery, the brain of the giant living organism that is a zero hive cluster. A large goopy sac stood prominently in the center of the room, tendrils stretching out from it into the walls in every direction. I opened and entered the sac. It felt like I was swimming in gelatin, at first, and then my sensations changed. I was no longer in my body in the hatchery. Now I WAS the hatchery, the whole hive cluster, feeling everything every structure, drone, and overlord felt. It was overwhelming.

A new voice, high and scratchy, rang in my head. "Greetings," it said. "I am Zasz. I too am a cerebrate of the Overmind."

"And I am Daggoth," said an additional voice, this one deep and reverberating. "It is our task to instruct you in the creation and rule of your own brood. We begin now. Mentally select a larva in the hatchery, and command it to morph into a drone."

Under the guidance of Zasz and Daggoth, I learned to sort through the sensations flooding into me, to telepathically single out and communicate with a particular larva, and to control the rest of the drones and overlords under my command. It was a wonderful experience, and I wished more than once that issuing commands as a Terran had been half as quick and intuitive. Over the next few days, all of which were spent in the sac, my bodies' needs seen to by the goop and tendrils around it, I built up the force under my command into a mighty swarm. Finally, Daggoth and Zasz pronounced my efforts satisfactory.

The voice of the Overmind broke into my consciousness then. "I am well pleased, young Cerebrate, and so long as my prize remains intact, I shall remain pleased. Thus, its life and yours shall be made as one. As it prospers, so shall you. For you are part of the Swarm. If ever your flesh should fail, that flesh shall be made anew. That is my covenant with all Cerebrates."

Immortality. The Overmind was telling me I was immortal, at least as long as the creature in the chrysalis was. Working for the Zerg was looking better and better. Some small quiet part of me still resisted, still shouted that I was a Terran, that Terran lives mattered. But that part was insignificant next to infested parts of me that knew I was Zerg, and that my sole goal in life was to serve the Overmind. Forever.

The Overmind continued. "Now you have grown strong enough to bear the rigors of warp travel with the Swarm. Thus we shall make our exit from this blasted world and secure the Chrysalis within the Hive cluster upon the planet Char."

We were leaving. Some amount of fear gripped me at those words. For all intents and purposes, Tarsonis was my home. I didn't know what Zerg warp travel would be like, what a fully infested Zerg planet would be like. And I think that tiny Terran part of me feared I couldn't be rescued if I left. But I was Zerg. I would obey the Overmind unto death.

Zasz spoke then. "Remnants of the Protoss fleet still linger within this planet's orbit. They will attempt to block our exodus at every turn."

A chance to test out my mastery of the Swarm in combat, then.

Daggoth's voice rumbled in my head. "My Brood shall aid you, Cerebrate, should you require assistance."

I resolved then to break the Protoss blockade without any assistance. I would prove myself to the Overmind.

…

A few hours later, my ground-based forces were safely tucked away within the bodily cavities of my overlords, who served as the aerial transports of the Zerg. I, too, lay within a specially designed overlord, floating in a smaller goop-filled sac that served as my mobile command center. With me was the chrysalis I was tasked with guarding. On my orders, the overlords began their ascent from Tarsonis, led by swarms of mutalisks, scourge, and guardians. My own overlord, externally indistinguishable from any other, lay near the center of the formation.

As we distanced ourselves from the hive cluster on the surface, my telepathic connection to the grounded structures weakened and finally died. All my sensations were those of the flying units I was tasked with using to break through the Protoss blockade. It was a tense time for me, those minutes spent waiting to enter orbit. My first combat experience as a Zerg cerebrate awaited me.

I did not have to wait long before the battle began. Protoss scouts moved to intercept us, and my sensations exploded into a flurry of movement and colors as I guided my mutalisks and scourge in highspeed aerial dogfights. I was quickly overwhelmed with my attempts to tightly control these fights, so much so that I failed to notice when my overlords floated past the Confederate orbital platforms. The protoss had commandeered these space stations and installed devastating photon cannons on their surface. Four overlords and all the forces they were transporting were vaporized before I heard Zasz' voice scream a warning to me. I immediately moved to order my overlords to drop off their units onto the platforms, guiding zergings, hydralisks, and guardians to destroy the photon cannons and their guards. As my attention left the dogfight, however, I felt the pain of a full control group of mutalisks as they became surrounded by scouts and swiftly exterminated. Daggoth shouted at me, this time. Angrily I resigned myself to my failure, and asked Daggoth to look after the aerial battle, while I concentrated on the space platforms. He agreed, and with the reduction in focus came an increase in strategy, and after some time I was able to destroy the protoss forces on the platforms with minimal losses.

A short while later, Daggoth punched a hole through the Protoss fleet, and I ordered my forces to return to their overlords and escape orbit. Once we were at a safe distance, I breathed a sigh of relief and gave the order to initiate warp travel.

Zasz spoke up, then, saying, "The battle could have gone better, but do not fear, Cerebrate, for you ultimately succeeded. Now, prepare yourself. Your first jump through warp space could be... unsettling."

What an understatement. Warp travel on a Terran battlecruiser felt clean and tight, like my body was being squeezed through a stainless steel pipe. Warp travel in a Zerg overlord felt rough and twisted, like my body was being squeezed through some enormous creature's hairy intestines. It was unpleasant, to say the least.

Gratitude welled up in me when we finally exited warp travel in orbit around the planet Char. As we descended to the surface, I examined the planet through the eyes of my minions. It was a lava planet, scalding hot and full of rivers of bubbling magma. Strategically, it was wonderful, an ideal headquarters for those who have evolved heat resistance in their war against those who have not. But aesthetically, I felt like I was looking at hell itself.


	3. Agent of the Swarm

I was Zerg now, so I pushed my feelings aside and got to work unloading my troops onto a defensible plateau and constructing a new hive cluster for the purpose of guarding my chrysalis. As I worked, the chrysalis grew, and I began to feel a sensation radiating from it, in the same way I felt the sensations of my units. But what I felt from the chrysalis was different, more powerful, more intelligent. And it was screaming. The screaming was muffled, as though I was hearing an echo originating from the bottom of an enormous abyss, but it was screaming nonetheless.

I spent as much time as I could out of the sac, exercising my own body, in order to avoid the screaming. I learned how to use my wings to fly during this time. It was nice, calm, peaceful. I was surprised to discover that I quite enjoyed my time as an individual Zerg soaring safely over the helfire of Char. But as much as I dreaded the screaming, I had to plug into the hivemind sometimes.

Over the next few months, the scream grew louder as the chrysalis grew larger. Finally, when the scream felt like it could be heard lightyears away and the chrysalis was as large as a building, it silenced. All was calm again in the hivemind, and all I could sense within the chrysalis was the strumming of a powerful heartbeat.

As I accustomed myself to the silence, the voice of Zasz called out for me. "Cerebrate," he said, "The psionic emanations of the Chrysalis have reached out into the depths of space and lured our enemies to us!"

"Enemies?" I asked him. "I've sensed nothing."

"My forces detected their communications, transmitted from the near northeast," he answered. "Even now, we are aware of their plans."

After saying this, Zasz telepathically transmitted a Terran radio signal to me. I didn't know the Zerg could do that. What's more, I recognized the voice on the radio as none other than Edmund Duke, respected Confederate officer turned Mengsk's lapdog!

"All right," Duke was saying. "All squadrons close formation and scan for hostiles. Emperor Mengsk believes that there's Zerg out here, so it's our job to flush 'em out! I don't want any slip-ups this time! We'll show these critters that they can't run from the Terran Dominion!"

"Emperor" Mengsk? What on earth had happened to the Terrans since I had been one of them?

The Overmind told me its orders, then. "These Terrans shall be eradicated by your hand, Cerebrate. Yet, you must engage their forces with care, and watch over the Chrysalis a while longer. For the very hour of the sleeper's rebirth is at hand, and soon my greatest creation shall be loosed."

The creature was ready to emerge from the chrysalis? That must be why the screaming stopped. Well, I had my orders. I had to protect the chrysalis from the Terrans, by exterminating them all.

I immediately began to order larva to morph into additional army units, even as I ordered drones to morph into still more sunken colonies to guard the chrysalis. Once I had several control groups worth of zerglings and hydralisks, I began to send them to the northeast. They didn't have to travel long before stumbling upon a scouting platoon of marines and firebats. I commanded my forces as they ambushed the platoon. Every one of the marines and firebats had been torn apart by claws and spines before even three zerglings fell before them. I pressed my forces onward, continuing my rampage until I reached the outskirts of their encampment. They had received word of my attack, and fortified their position with goliaths and siege tanks. I couldn't charge forward without losing my army.

It felt strange being on this side of the battle. Usually I was the one ordering the setting up of siege tanks, watching proudly as the mindless Zerg rushed to their doom. Not this time. This time I drew my forces together outside of the range of the tanks, preventing the Terrans from leaving their base, and I waited.

The Terrans did nothing for a while, apparently hoping I would decide to lose the battle by attacking them. Eventually, they attempted to sneak a small force around me, but I had surrounded them with overlords, one of whom alerted me to the incursion, and my army made short work of it. After that, they stayed within their fortifications, constructing more forces.

Now that I had them contained, I turned my attention back to my base. Mere minutes remained before the event I was waiting for would occur. The pulsation of the Chrysalis had turned into violent convulsions. Whatever was inside was fighting to break out. Suddenly, a tear appeared in the chrysalis, and goop spilled out of it onto the rocky ground. Then another tear appeared, and another, until finally the whole chrysalis exploded. As strips of flesh rained down, I caught sight, through the eyes of my guards, of the creature that stood where the Chrysalis had stood mere moments before.

If someone had stood next to my sac at that second, they would have heard, through all the goop, a loud gasp of shock.

"Arise, my daughter," the Overmind commanded, with something resembling adoration in his voice. "Arise... Kerrigan."

A new voice entered into my consciousness then. A voice that was harsh, yet feminine. "By your will, father. I live to serve. Let all who oppose the Overmind feel the wrath of the Swarm."

The Overmind then spoke directly to me. "Well done, Cerebrate! What I have wrought this day shall be the undoing of my enemies! Let not a Terran survive."

Even as I felt myself elated at my master's praise, a deeper part of me reacted in horror to these events. "Not Kerrigan." But I didn't understand why I was protesting. Kerrigan was Zerg now. Her face was similar to the face in my memory, but now she wore a tight exoskeleton, giant bony wings, and wriggling brown tendrils in place of fiery red hair. She was like me, now. This was something to celebrate, not mourn. So why did I feel so sorry for her? I didn't know, so I pushed aside my feelings as best I could.

Then I began to wonder, if we had both been infested, what had happened to Raynor? It wasn't as though the Zerg had infested everyone in my base - most of us had simply been killed. Presumably the overmind had chosen to infest me because I was the commander, and Kerrigan because she had so much psionic power. But what could motivate him to infest Raynor? Besides, if he'd hatched from a chrysalis, I'd have felt his presence, and it wouldn't make sense for him to still be in a chrysalis after both Kerrigan and I had hatched. I supposed Kerrigan's metamorphosis took longer than mine in order to preserve her psionic power, while I was a largely normal infested Terran, albeit with wings, an exoskeleton, and a well-functioning brain. Raynor had no such excuse for a longer incubation. Any way I looked at it, then, I could only come to one conclusion: Raynor, my friend, was dead.

But he had been Terran, and had stood against the Overmind. For that, he deserved to die. Right? I was so confused. No matter. I couldn't think about it now. The compulsion to obey the Overmind's command grew in my consciousness. It was time to destroy the Terrans.

I telepathically ordered Kerrigan to join my army outside the Terran base. I felt her recoil, surprised and angry at my unfamiliar and demanding mental touch. I realized, then, that I wasn't in control of her. Not like I was in control of the rest of the Swarm under my command. The overmind had left to her her free will, or at least a will free from my own, if not free from his.

I changed tactics then. I had to approach her like an equal, not a minion. "Hello, I am the Cerebrate tasked with ensuring your protection," I introduced myself to her telepathically.

"I see," Kerrigan mentally replied in a stern tone. "I am grateful to you for watching over me during my incubation. It is my wish that you continue your vigil."

"Then I shall gladly do so," I answered. "For now, the Overmind has tasked me with destroying a group of nearby Terrans. Would you be willing to aid me?"

"I will do anything that brings glory to our father. Tell me your plan."

I could sense her abilities just as I could sense the abilities of any of my units, so a plan was easy to devise. I telepathically explained it to her.

"A bold move," she observed. "I like it."

A short while later, Kerrigan was in the middle of the Terran siege tank line, cloaked. The terrans had set up their tanks away from their missile turrets, assuming correctly that no flying units were in the area, but incorrectly, as of mere minutes ago, that the Zerg possessed no cloaking capability. I readied my forces, and gave Kerrigan the mental signal.

She uncloaked and leapt on the nearest siege tank. The automated enemy detection software in the other siege tanks caused those with enough distance from her to target her to immediately swivel their cannons and fire upon her. Kerrigan jumped into the massive hole she had bored into the tank's plating, entering the interior of the tank and skewering the pilot with her bony wing. Explosions rattled the ground where she had stood seconds before, shrapnel flying off and damaging the other nearby tanks and marines.

As soon as I saw the cannons swivel, I gave the order to my underlings. They rushed the Terran line. Only those tanks too near to Kerrigan to target her could shoot at my swarm before the zerglings were upon them.

As I watched, I could see the exact moment the Terran forces gave up, as hundreds of zerglings and one extremely powerful Kerrigan devastated them. As one, they turned tail and retreated to their base. I pressed my forces onward, commanding my hydralisks to join them in the slaughter. Blood ran through the streets of the Terran base. As the last structure fell to Kerrigan's vicious strikes, I felt Kerrigan sense a radio signal, broadcast from a battlecruiser in orbit on the frequency she had communicated on when she was a Terran ghost.

"My God. Girl, what have they done to you?" It was General Duke.

"I'm far more than I once was," Kerrigan answered, using her psionic power to broadcast her response. "Duke. You shouldn't have come here."

"Hmph. I wouldn't have, but Emperor Mengsk thought you might still be alive on this planet."

"Yes. While I was in my Chrysalis, I instinctively reached out to Arcturus telepathically. But that was then, Duke. I'm one of the Zerg, now. And I like what I am. You can't imagine how this feels."

"You are an abomination."

"And you're no threat to me, Duke. Be smart. Leave here now, and never seek to confront the Zerg again."

Duke sighed. "Doesn't look like I have much choice."

Duke switched radio signals, but the transmission was still detectable. "Alright, you sorry bastards. Fall back! Fall back!"

Their grounded forces all but eradicated, the spaceships in orbit soon engaged their warp drives and fled from Char. Victory was mine.


	4. The Amerigo

Some time later, I exited my hatchery to meet with Kerrigan in my own body, while Char's fiery sun beat down upon us and the rest of the infested volcanic wasteland.

"Ah, my former commander," she said, smiling, upon seeing my face. "I see our father chose to infest you as well."

"Indeed," I answered, standing up straight. I saw a lava spout erupt in the distance. I couldn't even feel the enormous heat through my protective exoskeleton. "I suppose he respected my tactical expertise, and wished to possess it for himself."

"Perhaps so. Regardless, I am grateful for a familiar face. Though your mind feels quite different now."

"Yours has changed as well," I responded. "The Overmind has hardened us."

"As well he should. But I detect some small vestiges of tenderness in my heart for one Jim Raynor. Tell me, was he infested as well?"

"I do not believe so. I have not detected him since I awoke, not even on Tarsonis."

"A pity," Kerrigan answered. "Still, he shall be far from the only Terran to fall before the Swarm."

"Of course. One day every knee shall bow before our Father, or be destroyed. And those who pledge to him allegiance shall be evolved into paradise."

I'd never realized before how much being a part of the Zerg was like being a part of a religious cult. But it was. Even stranger, I liked it.

"And I shall be the tip of his spear," Kerrigan replied. "His best weapon towards realizing this goal. To that end, I have a request to ask of you."

"Oh? How can I be of assistance?"

"I am unable to access the totality of my latent psionic powers," answered Kerrigan, an angry tone coloring her voice. "As such, I would like us to infiltrate a Terran science vessel and uncover the secrets of the Confederate Ghost projects. If I can learn more about their mental conditioning, I can undo the damage their tinkering scientists have done to my mind."

I thought this was an excellent suggestion, but then a telepathic voice broke into our conversation. It was Zasz.

"Though you be the favored servant of the Overmind," he said, and I could feel his mental sneer, "You would do well to remember that you are just a servant. You know of our grand mission, Kerrigan. Would you put your personal whims before the will of the Overmind?"

I thought it ridiculous that Zasz could not see how an increase in Kerrigan's power would contribute to "our grand mission." But I gathered that Zasz's protests were based more in jealousy than reason.

Kerrigan reacted angrily. "Do not cross me, Zasz. I will do as I see fit, and not you or any other Cerebrate shall stand in my way!" So saying, Kerrigan broke her connection to the hive mind. I didn't know that was possible. I stood dumbfounded, her senses no longer accessible to me, as she stormed into the hatchery.

Zasz exuded fury. I started to worry, but then the Overmind stepped in. "Let her go, Zasz," he commanded. "The greatness of her spirit has been left to her; that the Swarms might benefit from her fierce example. Fear not her designs, for she is bound to me as intimately as any Cerebrate. Truly, no Zerg can stray from my will, for all that you are lies wholly within me. Kerrigan is free to do as she desires."

Zasz abandoned his anger. "By your will, Overmind." He addressed me, then. "Cerebrate, you must see that she comes to no harm."

"I will protect her," I answered. "May I accompany her onto the science vessel in my own body? I am eager to test its capabilities in combat."

"Of course," Zasz answered. "That is why the Overmind granted you such a body, rather than bequeathing a limbless form such as is possessed by myself and the other Cerebrates."

"But be aware, Cerebrate," chimed in Daggoth. "You will be unable to control much of your brood while outside your Hivemind Chamber."

Ah, so that was what the sac was called.

"Your psionic power will be like that of an overlord, enabling you to control only a handful of units," Daggoth continued. "Therefore, I shall send some of my hunter killers to aid you in your search. They are especially evolved hydralisks, and the deadliest of my minions."

"I thank you, Daggoth," I answered, and then entered the hatchery to find Kerrigan and begin our mission.

...

Duke had left a science vessel in orbit to keep an eye on us. A generally wise idea, I thought, as intel on one's enemies is extremely important in war. In this case, however, it would work against him, for he had not realized we had the means to board the vessel. It could have retreated into deep space if we had pursued it with mutalisks or overlords. But when my forces had picked through the ruins of a Terran Starport, they discovered an intact dropship. Kerrigan had not lost her memories of how to pilot a dropship, so the two of us and Daggoth's two Hunter Killers boarded the ship, filling it to capacity, and Kerrigan launched it into space. From there, it was a simple matter to broadcast a radio signal pretending to be distraught Terran survivors, and be allowed into a docking bay of the ship.

As soon as the door to our ship opened, the slaughter began. Kerrigan leapt out and speared guards and civilian deckhands alike. The Hunter Killers followed suit, their rudimentary intelligence sufficient to convince them to fire their projectile spines deep into the flesh of any nearby humans without receiving any direct telepathic orders. Finally, I joined the fray. "Time to see what this body can do!", I thought as I jumped upon a nearby deckhand, tearing into his flesh with my sharp claws and skeleton wings. It felt surprisingly good to feel the man collapse into pieces before me. This bloodlust was a new experience for me. But I liked it.

I attacked a guard next, piercing his marine armor with my attacks. I couldn't quite reach any vitals, though, and he was still shooting at me. My exoskeleton kept me from feeling the pain of the bullets bouncing off or lodging into me, but I could tell it was starting get damaged. Starting to feel a bit of fear, I somehow tapped into something primal and instinctive within me, and began to pool saliva in my mouth. Seconds later, I strangely felt far more saliva in my mouth than I thought my mouth was actually capable of holding, but I spat it all out at the marine anyway. A deluge of acid rained into him, melting his armor and flesh alike. He dropped his weapon and began clutching his melting head, screaming. I decapitated him with my claws to end his suffering quickly.

"Acid spit. Interesting. Very interesting. Wonder what other abilities the Overmind gifted me with."

So thinking, I approached an important-looking civilian who was pounding in a panic at a computer terminal near the exit to the docking bay.

"I wonder what he's up to," I thought, and allowed myself to slip into that more primal part of myself. I almost unconsciously began to "push" my mind, my telepathic powers, at him, the way I would to command a Zerg under my control. I don't know what I believed would happen, but I was amazed when I discovered I could sense his thoughts. "Gotta lock this, gotta lock this! There! Finally!" He thought, pushing one final key and backing away from the terminal. "That'll keep the Zerg from entering the rest of the ship."

 _You think so, do you?_ I thought, smiling, before I pushed a telepathic command at him. "Unlock the door."

"By your will," he thought in answer, approaching the terminal again and calmly punching in the code to unlock the door into the terminal. "It is done."

"Good. Now kill yourself."

The Terran visibly snapped out of whatever mental control I had over him. "What the..." he thought, eyes widening, before turning to regard me with fear.

"So my mind control only extends so far," I thought. "Pity." I skewered him with my wings, then.

The sounds of combat had died down, so I turned to regard my companions. They had performed their grisly task well, as every Terran in the room currently lay riddled with puncture wounds on the floor. Stepping around the growing pools of blood, I turned to inspect the health of my companions. Kerrigan seemed fine, but one Hunter Killer was hemorrhaging green blood to mix with the red. Continuing to follow my instincts, I walked up to the Hunter Killer and touched its wound. I began to feel an ooze seeping from my palm and fingers into the wound, stopping the flow of blood. Before my eyes, the Hunter Killer's damaged tissues absorbed the ooze and began to repair themselves. New healthy cells rapidly grew in place of the damaged or destroyed cells, and in less than a minute the Hydralisk was fully healed.

"Interesting." I thought. "So my third ability is a healing ability. Healing, acid spit, and mind control. Not too shabby. I wonder if I can heal myself?" I placed my palms on the cracks and holes in my exoskeleton, watching as they repeatedly repaired themselves with the goo. Soon I looked and felt as though I'd never been in a battle. "Nice," I complimented my own handiwork.

Kerrigan interrupted my thought, then. "Come on, Cerebrate," she said impatiently. "We have data to find."

"Of course," I answered, making my way to the exit I had ensured would remain unsealed.

...

Over the next couple hours, Kerrigan, the Hunter Killers, and I explored the science vessel, slaughtering all who stood against us and freeing any Zerg we found held captive as test subjects to join us in the carnage. It strained me to give orders to them all while in my own body, but there were few enough that I managed.

As we wandered the corridors, Kerrigan and I checked every computer terminal we came across, but it was some time before Kerrigan found the information she was looking for stored on a terminal deep within a high security section of the ship. Once Kerrigan finished downloading it to a portable data disc she had found nearby, she announced, "Cerebrate, I've located the records I sought. We have everything we need here."

"Ah, good," I answered. "Then we must return to the ship."

The return trip was much easier, as we had already cleared the way. Once we safely arrived in the docking bay, I ordered the zerglings and hydralisks we had saved to run amuck and complete the destruction of the Terran spy vessel, since we did not have space for them in the dropship.

The Hunter Killers, Kerrigan, and I boarded the dropship and piloted back to our hive cluster on Char. Now, we had the means to unlock Kerrigan's true potential. Considering how powerful she already was, I thought it quite possible that this data could make her the most psionically powerful being in existence.


	5. The Dark Templar

A few days later, Kerrigan had finished browsing the data, and telepathically summoned me to meet her just outside the hive cluster. "I have discovered what I must do to overcome the Confederate's psionic dampening and unlock my full potential," she informed me as soon as we met. "Prevent anything from disturbing me while I meditate."

So saying, she cut herself off from the hive mind, closed her eyes, and began to mutter words I could not make out.

I watched her for a time, curious, occasionally surveying the volcanic area for any possible disturbances. She seemed to be lost in her own subconscious, unaware of the external world. Eventually, I grew bored of watching the immobile woman and landscape, and continued with the hobby of playing with my powers that I had adopted since returning from the science vessel. I attempted to catch the healing ooze seeping from my palms and throw it into the distance, so I could heal at range, but as usual the ooze quickly dispersed and evaporated in the open air. I tested the range at which I could launch my acid spit, and the quantity I could store within my mouth, but those numbers weren't changing significantly either. Finally, I tested the range at which I could issue telepathic commands to the mindless critters native to Char, and the levels of complexity and danger I could endow such commands with and still have them followed. Only very simple commands would be obeyed, but I wasn't sure if that was true generally, or merely a function of the simplicity of these critters. Additionally, my range seemed stuck at the length of a large room, and I still couldn't make any of the critters do anything they recognized as likely leading to their death.

After a few hours had passed in this way, I heard Kerrigan growl in pain. I turned my attention to her just as her eyes flew open. A frightening new intensity glowed within them.

"Kerrigan?" I ventured. "Are... are you okay?"

"It is done," she announced. "I have unlocked my full potential. I can now focus my psionic power in an area to tear apart anything located there. And... my senses are heightened. Wait..." Kerrigan turned to look into the distance, her bony eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Do you feel that, Cerebrate?" Her confusion vanished and her eyes widened. "The Protoss are here! On Char!"

"What?" I sputtered. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she answered with confidence, and then she reconnected herself to the hive mind. Suddenly, I could feel the Protoss too. "They have been here for some time. Hiding."

"They must be dealt with," I pronounced.

Kerrigan agreed. "Indeed. I have located the mind of the Protoss commander." I felt her extend a telepathic connection into the distance.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I asked worriedly.

"Protoss commander," Kerrigan haughtily addressed a strange new mind. "It was folly of you to come here. For I am Kerrigan, and I am Queen of the Zerg!"

Before I could caution Kerrigan against hubris, a new mental voice resounded in my consciousness. It was strange. While I might characterize a Zerg's mental voice as dark and slimy, and a Terran's voice as thick and rough, this Protoss voice was bright and resonating, like I was listening to a giant crystal.

"I know of you well, O Queen of the Zerg," the voice said, and I thought I detected a mocking tone in its use of Kerrigan's self-proclaimed title, "For we have met before! I am Tassadar, of the Templar. I remember your selfless exploits, defending humanity from the Zerg. Unfortunate it is, to see that one who was once so honorable and full of life would succumb to the twisted wiles of the Overmind." Now the voice sounded almost mournful.

"Do not presume to judge me, Templar," Kerrigan warned in a threatening tone, reminiscent of a beast baring its teeth. "You'll find my powers to be more than a match for yours. In fact, I sense that your vaunted power has diminished since last we met."

It was true. The Protoss psionic signals felt much fainter than when I had felt them while newly infested on Tarsonis. Also, since Kerrigan and Tassadar seemed so familiar with one another, I gathered that Tassadar had been the commander we'd fought in our final ill-fated battle as Terrans, and that Kerrigan, as a ghost, had been able to sense their psionic signals even then, before infestation.

"Mayhap, O Queen. Or it is only that I need not flaunt my power in such an infantile test of will?"

They could control the strength of their psionic signals?

"Foolish Templar!" Kerrigan spat furiously like it was an expletive. "Prepare your defenses! I will come for you soon."

She then disconnected the Protoss mind from our telepathic conversation, and stormed over to me. "Prepare for war, Cerebrate," she commanded.

Before I could chide Kerrigan for costing us the opportunity for a surprise attack, Zasz, who had heard everything through the telepathic connection of the hivemind, cut in.

"Kerrigan, I sense something strange about this Templar. Perhaps you should reconsider your attack," Zasz said, exhibiting rather more tact than I had thought he was capable of.

Kerrigan responded venomously, however. "For the last time Zasz, you question my motives and authority at your own peril."

Zasz sputtered angrily. "You dare threaten a Cerebrate? You will be the doom of us all!"

So saying, he cut off his telepathic connection to us. I didn't know it then, but that would be the last time I'd ever hear his mental voice.

Kerrigan turned to me, then. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

After that outburst, I changed my mind about trying to chastise the enormously powerful woman, and opted to take a more passive-aggressive stance. "Of course, my queen," I said, with just a hint of sarcasm, before marching in the direction of the hatchery.

I glanced back briefly to see Kerrigan looking at me with her eyes narrowed and nostrils flaring. I swiftly turned my head forwards again.

As I walked back to the hivemind chamber, I tried to inquire of the Overmind his orders on the matter, but I didn't get a response. "His attention must be elsewhere," I thought. "But his last order was to allow Kerrigan to do as she desires, so I suppose I should aid her."

The next few hours were spent in the sac, building up an army, scouting the Protoss forces, and finally, launching an all-out attack, with Kerrigan at the head. Now that her psionic potential had been unlocked, she threw out psi storm after psi storm, tearing apart Protoss armor and limbs in massive cyclones of destructive energy. It was truly a wonder to behold. Perhaps Kerrigan had been justified in her arrogance and boastings to the Protoss commander. The Protoss didn't stand a chance before so much raw psionic power. And those Protoss who did survive, or attacked during lulls when Kerrigan needed to recoup her psionic energy, were ripped apart by my army of zerglings and hydralisks without much difficulty. True, I lost a lot of my minions. The Protoss must have killed hundreds of them, as it sometimes took more than ten zerglings take down even one basic Protoss zealot. But the nice thing about commanding the Zerg was that I could replace my forces almost as quickly as they fell. As long as my drones were able to collect enough minerals to give to the innumerable larva to use in their construction of new zergling bodies for themselves, my rampage would never end. And my mining operations were well protected. As a result, it took much less time than it did when I used Terran forces to fight the Protoss before I was able to reduce their base into a smoking ruin.

When the combat had died out, Kerrigan picked through the ruins of what seemed to be their command center, looking for the commander. "Where are you, Tassadar? Do your underlings always do your fighting for you?" she taunted through a generally broadcast telepathic channel.

Tassadar's voice resounded in our heads again. "This shall be our battleground, O Queen." A mental image was projected into our brains, of a large nearby abandoned volcanic crater. "Face me here, and I will defeat you myself."

Kerrigan scoffed, and jumped into the air, channeling her immense psionic power through her skeletal wings to generate the lift necessary to fly. She then soared over the lavastrewn landscape up to the massive volcanic crater. When she crested the edge, I could see through her eyes the figure waiting alone in the center of the caldera. It was a Protoss, clad in the dignified rainment of a templar.

"I don't like this, Kerrigan," I muttered telepathically. "Smells like a trap. And I can't get any forces up the mountain quickly enough to help you if it is."

"I can sense him," she answered, not even slowing down in her pursuit of the templar. "He's weak, and I sense no one else nearby. I'll be fine.

She dive bombed the Protoss, forcefully driving into him with her claws and weaponized wings. The Protoss' body immediately went up in smoke, and Kerrigan crashed into the ground. Hard.

I winced. As I could feel everything she felt to some extent, I'd experienced some of the pain of that impact. I also understood how it had happened - her claws and wings had never met the expected resistance in the Protoss body. It had been like clawing wind. Now Kerrigan had broken parts of her exoskeleton, and part of a wing had snapped.

She staggered to her feet and screamed in rage, physically and telepathically. Then she took a deep breath and broadcast a telepathic message. "An illusion? Are you afraid to face me, Templar?"

Tassadar chuckled. It was a mocking, superior, deriding laugh, and it made even me angry to hear. "So long as you continue to be so predictable, O Queen, I need not face you at all. You are your own worst enemy."

Kerrigan screamed again. "Insufferable Protoss coward! You cannot evade my wrath forever! I shall find you, and when I do..."

I was worried. The trap was about to spring, surely. But... I couldn't sense anything with Kerrigan. The Protoss signal on the caldera had disappeared. After several tense seconds where nothing occurred, another terrifying thought struck me. Maybe it wasn't a trap for Kerrigan, but a distraction, to keep her occupied while they attacked my base! I immediately tore my conscious attention away from Kerrigan and used the rest of my forces to scan for threats. Nothing. A minute passed. Then another. Soon, Kerrigan had flown herself back to my base, and set about furiously crushing rocks and psionically mutilating critters.

"What?" I whispered to myself. "Why... what was that Protoss thinking? He let an army die, and then taunted Kerrigan... and for what? This doesn't make any sense!"

I took a deep breath. "Fine. I guess I won't be trying to fend off a surprise Protoss attack. I'll be trying to calm down a furious Kerrigan instead." I rubbed my temple. "I honestly don't know which one I would prefer."


	6. Precursor

I found Kerrigan in a very strange place. She had stopped rampaging and was now bathing in the bubbling green liquid of the hive cluster's spawning pool. It was a structure that allowed for the creation of zerglings by imitating the primordial conditions in which the genetic code of the zerglings first evolved. The hot bubbling ooze was also extremely toxic and acidic, which is why I always had to be careful when destroying the structure as a Terran. If the wrong wall of the pool was breached and the liquid flooded out into my forces, they would have melted, armor and all.

Kerrigan, on the other hand, seemed to be relaxing, as though the pool were a mere hot tub, such as had been enjoyed by some of the rich Confederate elites on Tarsonis. I supposed the Overmind must have designed her form with some Zergling DNA, granting her their evolved resistance to acid. Then I realized I must have been granted the same resistance, given my ability to spit acid. Intrigued, I decided to test this idea, jumping up onto the pool wall and dipping just the tip of a wing into the bubbling green liquid. It felt good. Warm, calming. I pressed on, and soon I was submerged in the ooze. After taking a second to relax in the heat, I waded over to Kerrigan.

"Are you okay?" I asked her, cautiously.

She sighed, and turned her eyes from the ashridden sky to me. She didn't look angry anymore. She looked... sad. It was a strange emotion to see displayed on such a vicious face. Her hair was snakelike tendrils, her cheeks bony and sickly green, her nostrils slits and her teeth sharp and jagged. She looked like what a Terran would consider a monster. But her beady yellow eyes were cast down in sorrow, now, and I even got the impression she would be crying if she still had tear ducts.

"I should have listened to you," she answered quietly. "That Protoss humiliated me. 'I am my own worst enemy,' indeed. I can't be that predictable again. All my power... and I was still like a toy to him."

I sighed lightly, moved to stand close to her, and looked her in the eyes. "You're alive," I replied. "That's what matters. That means you can take this pain, and learn from it. You'll be wiser in the future, as a result of this experience. That makes it valuable. Don't resent it. Cherish it."

"Don't resent it?" she echoed. "He humiliated me. I hate him. One day, I will tear him apart with my bare hands. This I swear."

"No, see, that's exactly the wrong lesson to learn. Rage blinds you, makes you stupid. That's what he wants."

Kerrigan growled. "What else can I do? I won't just lie down and take this insult."

I sighed again, and rubbed my eyes. Then I moved to the edge of the pool, resting my arms on the wall behind me. "Have I ever told you how I ended up a colonial magistrate on a backwater colony world like Mar Sara?"

She gave me a strange look. "I suppose I always assumed you were born there."

"I wasn't." My voice grew soft. "You know where I was born? We destroyed it not too long ago."

Kerrigan stifled a gasp. "Tarsonis?! But... you never said anything."

"What would saying something have accomplished? The Confederacy was corrupt beyond belief, and needed to end. Attacking Tarsonis, even with as abominable a method as luring the Zerg there, was strategically necessary. And if such an act resulted in the destruction of all I had known and cared about as a child, including my parents and the families of my siblings, if any of them were even alive - I'd long since been estranged from them, you see - well, how would crying about it help?" Despite my words, I could feel a strange weight behind my eyes. I felt sure I would be shedding tears if my Zerg body had still been capable of it. Yet another reason to be grateful for the Overmind's gifts, I suppose.

"Even so," Kerrigan whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Anyway, that wasn't what I wanted to tell you about. I wanted to tell you about the mission that so humiliated me in the eyes of the Confederacy that they kicked me out of my respected position as a colonel in Beta Squadron."

"Oh?" Kerrigan asked, moving over to lean against the pool wall near me. "This is a story I want to hear."

"It's not a very happy one, as you might imagine. My career was quite promising at the time. My superiors believed I was a tactical genius. I led my little division to victory in many battles, and for a while there I was, in fact, undefeated. Then came the fateful assignment. A group of rebels had somehow managed to attack the Ghost Academy on Tarsonis. They incurred heavy losses, of course, but had nevertheless managed to kidnap several ghosts in training."

Kerrigan gasped.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, you're familiar with this operation? I'd wondered if you'd been involved. But yes, the rebel group in question was the Sons of Korhal."

"I... I fought in that attack. I didn't know we had kidnapped more than one ghost, though," Kerrigan whispered. "And that ghost... Mengsk killed him."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Why?"

"Revenge. He had participated in the assassination of Mengsk's family. Like... like me."

"You helped murder Mengsk's family?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, back when I was nothing more than a Confederate weapon. I thought... I'd thought Mengsk had forgiven me. Our current situation proves I was mistaken about that."

"Is that why he abandoned us? I was wondering. It seemed like such a stupid move to make. Anyway, the Confederacy had received intel that the captured Ghost students were being held in a secret compound on Korhal. The Confederacy hated the idea of rebels discovering how to train ghosts, so they sent in my division to destroy the compound. They even authorized the use of nuclear weapons, since they had already nuked Korhal into an irradiated wasteland not long before."

"Of course they did. The bastards," Kerrigan muttered.

I nodded. "It could have been an easy fight. Launch a bunch of nukes, then send my men to pick through the rubble. But I was arrogant and idealistic. I wanted to rescue the students, not murder them. Some of them were just children! So I ordered my men to invade the compound instead. They met surprisingly little resistance. I remember wondering why the Sons of Korhal would assign so few guards to such valuable prisoners. Finally, they found the students, stuck in a cell deep in the heart of the compound. I ordered my men to converge on the site, to guard and extract them."

I cast my eyes down and my voice grew soft. "But... when my men were at their most concentrated, all together at the center of the compound, I heard it. The words that still haunt my dreams. The warning of my adjutant. "Nuclear Launch Detected." Suddenly I realized how foolishly I had concentrated my soldiers, and tried to order them to flee. But it was too late. I watched the monitor in my command center helplessly as the nuke fell screaming from the sky. When the mushroom cloud had dissipated, I frantically checked the sensors for signs of life from within the ruined compound. But nothing survives a blast like that. My division, the men I'd led to victory in so many battles. All dead."

Kerrigan looked down at the bubbling green ooze. "Who launched the nuke?"

"At first I assumed there'd been a miscommunication, and a Confederate had given the order. But after a few video conferences, the truth came out. Mengsk had fired that nuke, on his own compound, his own men, and his own prisoners."

Kerrigan gasped again. "Mengsk would never... do... that..." Kerrigan's voice, which had begun so insistent, trailed off into nothingness.

"You're realizing he did just that again, not too long ago," I observed. "Only with a weapon far more deadly than a nuke. The Zerg.

Kerrigan nodded.

"He is a ruthless man. You know, I'm still not sure how he managed to get his hands on a nuclear missile. But I can't imagine a more strategic use for such a devastating weapon than wiping out an entire Confederate division in one shot."

"What happened after that?"

"Oh, I was stripped of my command, of course. My superiors blamed me for not nuking the site myself in the first place. They sent me to the backwater colony planet Mar Sara, which I think now they knew would soon be invaded by Zerg, so they were hoping to get rid of me for good. In short, I was humiliated. More humiliated than ever before or since. I blamed Mengsk. I hated him for what he did to me."

"Then how did you end up working for him?" Kerrigan asked, puzzled.

"It was the only chance I had to save the citizens of Mar Sara. When the Zerg invaded, the Confederates abandoned us to die. But Mengsk knew of my reputation for tactics, and wanted me working for him, so he offered to send a fleet of dropships to evacuate us all if I agreed to be a commander in his rebellion."

"That had to have been a hard decision," Kerrigan said.

"Easier than you might think. The choice was between leaving myself and every one of these innocent settlers to die, or trusting a man I hated just enough to get a chance at revenge on the government that had abandoned us. When I put aside my hatred and thought clearly, there was only ever one real choice, and Mengsk knew that. He did the same sort of thing with General Duke not long after. His skills may be lacking in battlefield strategy, but in personal manipulation, I've never met his equal."

"Hmph. So why tell me all this now?"

"Because rage is stupid. I was humiliated by an enemy, just as you were, but I ended up having to forgive him in order to save myself and those under my charge. If I had clung to my rage, I would be dead now. And Mengsk, he refused to forgive, in his rage he consigned us both to death, and in doing so he helped create the new us, who I'm sure will shortly be the instruments of his destruction. Rage is opposed to wisdom, Kerrigan. Tassadar knows this. He wants you to be angry."

Kerrigan scoffed.

I narrowed my eyes at her slightly, then softened and sighed. "Look, if you're really so attached to your anger and quest for vengeance, promise me this, at least. Promise me next time you'll heed my counsel. Listen to the one who can keep a cool head."

Kerrigan growled. "No promises." She jumped out of the water up onto the wall of the pool, then turned towards me again. "But thank you. For telling me all that."

I nodded, and turned to look up into the sky, thinking. I decided to check on my forces, see if they had anything to report.

Suddenly, I heard a telepathic shout in my ear. "There you are! Where have you two been?!" It was Daggoth's voice, and he sounded scared. With a start, I realized I had accidentally cut myself off from the hive mind by focusing all my attention on my conversation with Kerrigan.

"What is it, Daggoth?" I asked, worried.

"Zasz is dead!"

"Oh?" Kerrigan interjected, still standing on the wall beside me. "It is a pity that Cerebrates cannot truly be killed. I expect that the Overmind will reincarnate him soon."

"No, he will not!" answered Daggoth. "The Protoss have devised some new attack. An attack powerful enough to nullify our reincarnation and give pause to the Overmind itself!"

I spoke up, "So, Tassadar's plan was merely a diversion. We should not have underestimated him so." I shot a pointed look at Kerrigan.

She glared back at me, but Daggoth cut in. "Without its master, Zasz's Brood has run amok and even now threatens the hive cluster! Cerebrate, you must eradicate the rampaging brood and stem any further damage it might cause. I shall deal with the Protoss myself."

"As you wish, Daggoth," I answered, still looking at Kerrigan. Daggoth's mind left our telepathic link.

"Do you expect me to apologize?" Kerrigan demanded. "I never liked Zasz anyway."

"Next time it might be me that Tassadar slays, when you are off being manipulated by your pride and lust for vengeance."

"That won't happen again," she asserted.

"Good. Then let's take care of these ferals." So saying, I climbed out of the pool and made my way to my sac in the hatchery.


	7. The Culling

Our campaign against the renegade zerg was fairly uneventful. They exhibited no strategy, instead simply obeying a base animal instinct to kill anything that moved that wasn't of their own brood.

Once I'd established a base near the brood, I had an overlord transport me to the field so I could fight in person. Having practiced a great deal in the science vessel and on the ground over the last few days, I knew that outside of the hivemind chamber I could hold up to two control groups worth of units under my telepathic thrall at once. A control group consisted of 12 units, and was the maximum number of zerg units that could be commanded via a single telepathic command. If you wanted to give a command, say, "move here," to more than 12 units, you had to issue the command at least twice. Interestingly, I usually gave commands to groups of 12 as a Terran as well, for that was the number of soldiers in a healthy platoon.

I figured that, given the enemies' lack of tactics, Kerrigan, myself, and two control groups of units would be more than enough. Especially since I quickly discovered I was correct in my suspicion that I could use my mind control ability to replenish my fallen forces by making enemy Zerg units believe they were a part of my brood. What's more, once we set about the task of methodically eradicating the feral forces, I learned that with her newly unlocked psionic powers, Kerrigan could extend my control, much as an overlord could when I was in the sac. With her help, it wasn't long before nearly 50 formerly feral Zerg were helpfully rampaging throughout the volcanic plains of Zasz' area of Char.

Hours later, when all the feral zerg I could sense had been tamed or slaughtered, I attempted to report my success to Daggoth or the Overmind. Neither responded to my telepathic message. Daggoth I could understand - his attention was directed at the Protoss. He would contact me if he wanted my help. But the Overmind… why would he stay silent?

Kerrigan and I returned to our main base to await further instructions. Over the next few days, we talked a great deal. I think we were both grateful to have the chance to converse with another who had undergone the same infestation process and retained Terran memories. The other Cerebrates had never known a time when they didn't serve the Overmind, and any other Terrans the Zerg had infested - such as, I had since discovered, the aides that had been in my command center on Tarsonis, that fateful day - had been infested much more hastily, and were reduced to mere mindless minions like the other zerg units.

It was a strange thing, remembering the thoughts and feelings of the Terran me even as I now possessed the thoughts and feelings of a Zerg. I wondered how I could ever have been so blind as to stand against the Overmind. I couldn't fathom what had possessed me to be so concerned with all the stupid little things that had stressed me in my Terran life. Now I was free from all that; now I only had one concern: to serve the Overmind. And Kerrigan felt the same way.

We grew close during this time, and in the time to follow. As Terrans, our relationship had been strictly professional - Jimmy had been the one who was smitten with her. But now, after all we'd been through, I think a bond formed between us that no Zerg who had never been a Terran could hope to understand. Still, that bond would be tested in the coming years. One such test, certainly not the least of them, was the fact that we remained Zerg. "Love" was not in a Zerg's vocabulary. Neither was "care," "affection," or even "lust." Zerg reproduced through Larvae: there was no need for anyone other than the specially designed queens who bore the larvae to think about such things - and even the queens received the necessary genetic information asexually, by connecting into Zerg structures like the spawning pool.

And as strong as our bond grew, we both knew neither of us would, or even could, hesitate to destroy one another if the Overmind demanded it. We existed to serve him.

That was why we were relieved when several days later we finally heard the Overmind's calming and authoritative voice resound in our consciousnesses once again.

"Behold, my long silence is now broken, and I am made whole once more."

Daggoth's mental presence immediately leapt into the conversation as well, equally relieved.

"The cunning Protoss have dared strike down that which was immortal," the Overmind continued. "For the Protoss who murdered Zasz are unlike anything we have faced before. These Dark Templar radiate energies that are much like my own, and it is by these energies that they have caused me harm. Yet shall their overweening pride be their downfall. For when the assassin Zeratul murdered Zasz, his mind touched with mine, and all his secrets were made known to me. I have taken from his mind the secret location of Aiur, the Protoss Homeworld. At long last, my children, our searching is done. Soon we shall assault Aiur directly."

This was better news than I ever could have dreamed! Not only was the Overmind unharmed, but he now had the information necessary to accomplish the ultimate goal of the Zerg: assimilating the genetic code of the Protoss into our own genetic makeup. The Protoss had been specially designed by the same powerful beings that had engineered the Zerg: the Xel'Naga. While the Zerg had been designed for purity of essence, the Protoss had been designed for purity of form. To obtain both purity of form and purity of essence was to become the perfect being.

"I will begin preparing my brood at once, Overmind," stated Daggoth. "Cerebrate," he said, addressing me, "Take over the fight against the Protoss here. We still must ensure that the Dark Templar can cause no further harm."

Puzzled, I asked, "Do you intend to leave me and Kerrigan on Char while you travel to Aiur?"

"The invasion shall be perilous," answered the Overmind, "And I do not desire to endanger my prizes. Behold, when Aiur has grown so infested that I myself stand tall upon its long-awaited surface, then shall I summon you to my side."

The Overmind standing on the surface himself? But I thought he didn't have a body? Despite my questions, I only answered, "By your will, Overmind."

…

Over the next few weeks, my brood hunted down and killed Protoss on Char while the rest of the swarm warped to Aiur. Kerrigan and I even spoke with Zasz' murderer, the assassin Zeratul, as we laid waste to his army. It annoyed me to see that the same sort of back-and-forth bantering that had occurred between Kerrigan and Tassadar occurred again with Zeratul. Though, I had to admit I found it quite funny when, after Kerrigan had once again proclaimed herself Queen of the Zerg, Zeratul began referring to her as "Concubine of the Zerg." A clever insult, to be sure, and one that enraged Kerrigan to no end.

But like Tassadar, Zeratul never showed himself in person, and so they survived our vicious attacks, even as their forces were decimated. Once we had heard from neither for some time, and the remaining Protoss began to seem scared and disorganized, we concluded that they must have left the system.

Kerrigan and I continued to scour the burning wastelands of Char for our elusive prey, but we both knew that the real fight wasn't with these disheartened stragglers. It was on Aiur. Long after the last Protoss we could sense on Char had fallen, we still had heard nothing from the Overmind. To traverse such a great distance took some time even at warp speed, of course, but we felt sure the Swarm had long since arrived on Aiur. It killed us to know there was nothing we could do to serve the Overmind at this most important of moments except wait.

Months passed. Kerrigan and I passed the time sparring, exploring, or idly chatting. There wasn't a whole lot else to do, now that friendly Zerg and harmless critters constituted the only living inhabitants on or near Char, at least as far as we knew. Kerrigan and I were engaged in some such idle chatter when something finally happened.

"We should give my brood a name," I had announced.

"Our brood," Kerrigan corrected.

"Hey, which one of us is the Cerebrate?"

"And which one of us is the Queen? On second thought, you're right, you can have this brood. The entirety of the swarm is mine."

I shook my head. "Zasz would have a few choice words to say about that, were he here."

"Yes, well, I'm glad to say that that annoyance is long dead."

"Maybe we should adopt his brood's name, now that he's gone. You know, carry on his legacy."

Kerrigan glared at me. "Don't you dare."

I chuckled. "You know, I never asked if they had any names for their own broods. I remember the names we used as Terrans. We named them all after mythical monsters. Zasz' brood was the Garm, Daggoth's was the Tiamat, and then there was the Grendel, the Fenris, and a few others I can't remember."

"I doubt the other Cerebrates have any need to name their mindless broods," answered Kerrigan. "It is enough to name themselves."

"Then let's depart from tradition. We'll name the brood, and not the Cerebrate." I laughed.

"But you already have a name," Kerrigan replied, confused.

"A Terran name, yes. Though, my whole life I've mostly been referred to by my title. But I don't have a Zerg name. 'Cerebrate' is sufficient for me."

"Fine, if that's the way you feel," Kerrigan answered, rolling her eyes. Then she smirked. "Why don't you call the brood 'the Kerrigan'? Surely I'm far more dangerous than any of those mythical monsters."

I laughed. "An excellent idea," I answered, grinning. "Though, it would seem to suffer from the possibility of confusion between a reference to you and a reference to the brood."

Kerrigan smiled. "Well, let's hear your idea, then."

"Alright," I replied. "What do you think of 'the Medusa'?"

"Ancient mythology wasn't exactly an educational priority at the ghost academy. Who was Medusa?"

"She was once a beautiful woman, but was cursed by a god into becoming a monster whose gaze would turn a man into stone and whose hair consisted of wriggling venomous snakes." I looked pointedly at the tendrils Kerrigan now sported on top of her head.

"My, that does sound appropriate," Kerrigan replied. "Very well. Medusa brood it is. But do let me know if you discover a way to turn a person to stone just by looking at them. That ability would come in handy."

"Of course," I answered, smiling. "Though the ability to rip a man in two just by focusing a little psionic power is handy too, wouldn't you agree?"

"I'd hardly call it 'little,' but you make a good point. I must admit I do miss the Lockdown ability I had as a ghost sometimes, however."

"Yes, I suppose the ability to EMP a mechanical unit into ceasing all activity is rather like turning it to stone. We could always try to find you another lockdown-capable C-10 rifle."

"No, the time for guns is gone. These days, I'd much rather see my enemies' faces as I tear them apart myself."

"Heh. That bloodlust is going to get you in trouble one day."

"So you keep saying. But the Overmind designed me this way for a reason."

"Yes, to amuse himself watching you make a fool of yourself."

Kerrigan glared at me again. "Shut up," she commanded, with just a hint of playfulness.

"By your will, my Queen," I replied with a smile, giving a mock bow.

Kerrigan harrumphed and turned to watch the ashridden sky above our base.

I followed suit, and reflected on how happy I was. I remember thinking that never before had I been so satisfied with life. I wished these moments could last forever.

But that particular moment lasted mere seconds, for then I felt it. A thunderous *snap* in my mind, as though my soul had violently broken in two. Everything immediately felt different. It's hard to draw any sort of analogy for such a unique experience, but I might compare it to being jolted awake from a pleasant dream, or to the shock of suddenly and unexpectedly seeing a loved one die. I felt lost, confused, scared, empty, real, alert, upset, worried, unsafe, energized, and alive, all at the same time.

I turned to look at Kerrigan with wide eyes, and saw her watching me with the same stunned expression.

"What… does this mean that…?" I whispered.

"I… I think so," Kerrigan answered.

I telepathically forced my mind into the Zerg under my command. I could still sense them, calm and obedient, same as ever. Relieved, I began to cast the net of my mind wider, looking for telepathic signals from another brood. Some such Zerg had been left on Char for safekeeping, like Kerrigan and I had been. When I found them, I knew that they had gone feral. Their minds were roaring in bestial anger, and I could no longer sense the mental presence of a commanding Cerebrate.

As I sorted through all the sensations I was experiencing, I realized something else had changed about me. I no longer felt any compulsion to serve the Overmind. Indeed, that whole core of my being that had been dedicated to knowing and obeying him felt as though it had been ripped out of my soul. Now, I felt surprised to discover that I regarded him as a freed slave might regard a former master who was not unkind. Overjoyed to be free, but still concerned for the master's well-being. And it seemed clear what had happened to the master. In the mental space that had once been reserved for his telepathic presence, even a slumbering, inattentive presence, there was now a void. There was no escaping it. The Overmind was dead.


	8. Eye of the Storm

It took us an hour or two of standing in stunned silence before we could adjust to the gaping void within our souls. Finally, we began to talk.

"Do you know what this means?" Kerrigan began quietly.

I stared at her. "What?"

"It means we are now the leaders of the Zerg Swarm. We can use the swarm however we see fit."

I blinked. "With no word from Daggoth or the other cerebrates… I suppose you're right." Then my eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How exactly do you want to use the swarm, Kerrigan?"

"First, I want to get revenge on those humiliating Protoss. Then I will avenge myself on that traitor, Mengsk."

"And after?" I raised an eyebrow.

"I will continue the Zerg's campaign of conquest. I will become the queen of the universe!" A manic glee shone in her eyes.

"And after?"

Kerrigan stared quizzically at me. "There is no after. Once I'm queen of the universe, all will know me, and all will fear me. That is my end goal."

It was the sort of answer I'd been afraid of. "You are too motivated by a lust for power and revenge, Kerrigan," I replied, shaking my head. "I would have hoped such feelings would die along with the Overmind, but I think I understand why you still obey such base desires."

Kerrigan looked at me with a mixture of anger and confusion. "What the hell do you mean?"

I sighed, then turned my attention to the smoke of a volcano exploding in the distance. "Let's talk, Kerrigan. Tell me, what did you feel, in your last moments as a human on Tarsonis, when you knew you were about to die?"

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"When a person believes they are about to die, their true nature comes out. And if they by some miracle survive, they never forget what they learned about themselves in those moments."

Kerrigan was quiet. I turned my gaze back upon her. Was it my imagination, or did she look… scared?

I decided not to press for an answer right away. "You know what I felt, in my final moments?"

Kerrigan furrowed her brow. "Tell me."

"I felt at peace. I felt happy. For the first time in my life. No more battles to fight, no more superiors to impress, no more worries at all. My whole life, I've been under tremendous pressure to succeed. But at that moment, I could rest."

Kerrigan scoffed.

I smiled. "Not what you felt, I take it?"

Something terrifying fluttered behind Kerrigan's yellow eyes. "No. I felt rage. I hated Mengsk for consigning me and Raynor to death. I hated him with all my heart. And I hated the Zerg, for killing us, and I hated the Protoss, for being the reason we were there, and I hated the universe, for allowing such an injustice, and I hated… and I hated!" Kerrigan's voice grew panicked and angry. "In my last moments, before the Zerg took me, I dropped my gun, stared defiantly at the sky, and internally screamed my rage at the heavens with all the might my great psionic power could muster!"

Her outburst finished, Kerrigan began to breath rapidly. After giving her a moment to recover, I asked, "And did the heavens answer?"

Kerrigan clenched a fist, and stared into my eyes. "No."

I sighed. "Sit with me, Kerrigan," I said, lowering myself to the rocky ground.

Kerrigan glared. "I'll stand."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself." I looked up at her, then, and began to speak.

"Your whole life, you've been pushed around, forced to obey one master or another. The Confederacy, or Mengsk. And they've hurt you, over and over, and you've been powerless to resist. You feel like your whole life has been out of your hands. And you're tired of it. You're tired of being some pet assassin, forced to murder mothers and children by the master of the hour. You're tired of people walking all over you, treating you like you're just a weapon, fearing you, using you, humiliating you, but never loving you. You've lived for those moments, like with Raynor, when you could feel some semblance of the affection you've been denied since you were a little girl barely able to walk. But any hope you had for a future with such feelings died that moment on Tarsonis. After all the many trials you have endured, this was the one that finally broke you. You gave up, thought love impossible for you; the world is too cruel. So you gave yourself over to hate instead, hate and a desire for vengeance for all the love you've been denied all your life. Now you want to make the world know your pain. You want to punish it for what it's done to you. You want to destroy the universe, and when you've succeeded, and all happiness in life has been extinguished, then shall you turn your wrath upon yourself, and finally die."

At some point during my psychoanalysis, Kerrigan had sat down, holding her knees close to her body with both her arms and her wings, her face cast downward. She looked quite pitiful in this fetal position, and I could only imagine she felt still more pitiful. Now that I had finished speaking, I could hear strange sad sounds emanating from Kerrigan, not unlike sniffles. Once again, I was grateful that Zerg could not cry. I'd been raised military. Crying wasn't something I knew how to deal with.

Still, after waiting in silence for a moment, I crawled over to Kerrigan and put my hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry," I said simply.

"How?" Kerrigan whispered in between her mournful vocalizations. "How?"

"How what?"

"How did you know? I didn't even know. Didn't know until now. How did you know?"

"Because I've felt the same way in the past," I answered. "I've felt my life was out of my control, that the world's been cruel to me, that I was unlovable. I was tempted to respond with hatred. But I also saw the path such a choice would lead me down. I decided it would be more strategic to respond stoically. To just set aside my feelings and bear my burdens."

"How noble of you."

I shook my head. "Not really. I've become like an unfeeling machine. In a way, I'm jealous of you. You may be headed for death, but you're still truly alive. My path allows me to live, but only by walking through a kind of death."

"How poetic," Kerrigan responded derisively.

I smiled. Then I decided to take a risk. "Listen, Kerrigan. Both of us are in the same space boat, here. The world's rejected us. We've become monsters. Therefore, let us love one another, you and I. No one else shall."

Kerrigan turned to look at me. Her yellow eyes were wide and puffy. We stared at one another for what felt like an eternity, though it must have been less than a minute. Finally, she sighed. "Fine. You have a point. I'll allow this, but…" a fierce anger radiated from her eyes, "if you die, too, that will be it. This universe will get no more chances. I swear I will destroy it, every living thing in it. Do you understand me?"

"I do," I replied simply. "Thankfully, our zerg bodies do not deteriorate with age. As long as we're careful not to let me get killed, now that the Overmind is no longer around to reincarnate me, the universe can continue without fear of your wrath."

"Yes. Now, then, if you're so intent on not taking vengeance, what do _you_ want us to do?"

I smiled. "Well, like I said, zerg bodies do not age, plus we are stronger, faster, and healthier than we ever were as Terrans. Not to mention, we can fly, have some ability to read minds, and can control legions of useful but unthinking slaves without the messy moral issues surrounding human slavery. Any way you look at it, we're actually superior to what we were before. I think the only thing we've lost is the ability to personally reproduce, and that's not that big of a deal."

"Get to the point," Kerrigan snapped.

"I think we should infest the rest of the Terrans. Make them all like us. For their own good."

Kerrigan stared blankly at me. "What?"

"Imagine it, Kerrigan. A world where we aren't the monsters - we're the norm. A world where everyone can live forever. A world where people must be kind to one another because they can feel everything that everyone else feels. A world where no one even has to work if they don't want to, because our zerg minions can take care of all the labor. Sounds like paradise to me."

Kerrigan tilted her head like a bird, a faraway look in her eye. Then she began to chuckle. Soon, the chuckle evolved into a laugh. Then she reared her head back and roared with laughter. It was a beautiful sound, at once melodic and bestial, primal and happy. If I had to compare it to something, I might say it was like a wolf's howl, but it was much more joyous. It made me glad to hear Kerrigan make such a sound, and I fervently wished she would feel so inclined more often. I much preferred the laughing Kerrigan to the vengeful one.

Finally, she stopped, and smiled at me. "You're a crazy bastard. But I can't deny that your idea intrigues me. What does that make me?"

"Sane," I answered, matching Kerrigan's smile.

"Still," she continued more somberly. "I'll only agree to this on one condition."

My eyes narrowed. "What's that?"

"We don't infest Mengsk. I won't allow him to share a hive mind with me. Him, we kill."

I blinked, then smiled again. "Deal."


	9. Legacy

Our course of action decided, our next task was clear: we needed information. Most importantly, we needed to know how to infest Terrans to be like us. The only sort of infestation that the other Cerebrates had trained me how to perform was the sort of infestation that reduced thinking humans to gibbering zombies. I sent scouts to Aiur, throughout Char, and to many other planets besides, in hopes of finding someone who could teach me the secret of humane infestation.

Over the next few months, my scouts discovered many helpful things. First, the overlords I sent to Aiur confirmed that the Overmind was indeed dead. They telepathically sent images of an enormous burned out tentacled husk. I supposed the Overmind really must have found a way to manifest himself physically on the planet's surface, but I couldn't fathom why he would do so, given how vulnerable this made him. Did he secretly go to Aiur seeking death? But why? And he'd already conquered so much of the planet before manifesting himself. The Protoss civilization on Aiur was all but destroyed.

Second, my overlords reported seeing some Protoss survivors teleporting through a warp gate, so I ordered them to follow. They discovered a new planet, Shakuras, the home world of the dark templar, those Protoss with the ability to kill Cerebrates permanently. The other Protoss were seeking refuge with their dark brethren. Though all the zerg still on Aiur were feral now, I discovered a couple of Cerebrates had also traveled through the warp gate, and were attacking Shakuras. I wondered what their goal was. Revenge for the destruction of the Overmind? In any case, they were minor Cerebrates, so I doubted they possessed the information I needed.

Finally, and most importantly, the zerglings and hydralisks I sent to scout out and eliminate the remaining feral zerg on Char reported seeing a strange creature wandering the tunnels underneath the ruins of Daggoth's hive cluster. It looked Zerg, with a serpentine body, too many arms, and an insectoid carapace, but it also looked completely unlike any other type of Zerg I knew about. I ordered it brought back to Kerrigan's hive cluster alive. The creature was a terrible fighter, and my minions captured it easily. When they returned with my prize, Kerrigan was out exploring the planet. I met the creature just outside my hatchery and pushed my telepathic control at it. I quickly discovered it was no dumb minion like the usual Zerg unit, but was actually intelligent enough to speak, in a voice that went about as deep as a voice possibly can.

Our conversation went something like this:

"What is your name; what species are you?"

"Name: Abathur. Species of one. Specially created by Overmind."

I furrowed my brow. "I've never heard of the Overmind creating a species with one member."

"You have. You, species of one. Kerrigan, species of one."

"How do you know of me and Kerrigan?"

"Served Overmind during your creation. Now, serve you. Shared leadership? Unclear."

I chuckled lightly, and felt grateful Kerrigan was not around. "Should our commands ever conflict, you will serve me. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Now, tell me, Abathur, why did the Overmind create you? What was your function?"

"Evolution master. I spin sequences. Evolve Zerg. Assimilate new species."

"Evolution and assimilation? You didn't... did you play any role in the infestation of Kerrigan and myself?"

"Logical conclusion. Designed you."

"You did? Then do you know how to infest more Terrans to be like us?"

"Yes. Terran sequences malleable. Complex. Spinning sequences challenging, valuable."

"Then it seems you are exactly what I have been looking for. With the Overmind dead, the goals of the Swarm have changed. The Swarm now seeks to infest all Terrans like Kerrigan and I were infested."

"Illogical."

I frowned. "Why?"

"Too many Terrans. Weeks needed to spin sequences for one. Would take millennia to spin sequences for all."

I scratched my chin. "Hmm… that is a problem. We have millennia, if we're lucky, but Terrans don't. Could we copy you, make more members of your species, so we can infest more?"

"Copies mute, dumb. Intelligent Zerg require special creation."

"Why is that?"

"Larvae sequences. Code for leader's absolute control. Disallows intelligence."

"Can we respin those sequences?"

"Evolve Larvae? Intriguing. Unsure. Difficult. Will inspect and evaluate."

"Please do," I answered. Just then, I spotted Kerrigan in the distance, flying towards us. I smiled. "Ah, Kerrigan returns. Come, let me introduce you, Abathur."

"I obey."

When Kerrigan drew closer, my smile evaporated. She was flying fast and wore a grim expression. When she alighted on the ground before us, she spoke. "Cerebrate, I have bad news."

"What news?"

"There is a new Overmind growing on Char."

I stared, stunned. "What? But… how?"

"Daggoth has returned, along with the other Cerebrates from Aiur. They seem to have merged their bodies together in a volcanic plain near Daggoth's former hive cluster. I could feel the new combined creature's nascent psionic pull. The feral zerg in the area are already responding to the call, taking up protective positions around the creature. Should that thing reach maturity…"

"It'll take full control of us, just like it did before," I whispered.

Kerrigan nodded.

"We have to destroy it while we still can," I declared.

"We can't," Kerrigan shook her head. "Only those Protoss, the Dark Templar, can kill it while preventing it from just reincarnating itself."

"It's that far developed?"

Kerrigan nodded again.

"Damnit. How did we not notice it sooner? And why didn't the Cerebrates contact us?"

"They must not trust us." Kerrigan shrugged. "So they hid from us. Wise of them."

I grumbled under my breath. "I guess that means we have to go to Shakuras, and somehow convince one of those Protoss to help us."

Kerrigan snorted. "We'd need some of kind of mind control to convince a Protoss to aid a Zerg."

"Hmm…" I turned to the creature at my side, whom Kerrigan had begun eyeing with suspicion. "Any ideas, Abathur?"

Abathur growled thoughtfully. "Can create parasite. Implant Protoss nervous system with parasite. Corrupt thoughts. Influence decisions. Command parasite to command Protoss. Cannot infest Protoss; not true control. But allows manipulation."

"Brilliant," I declared.

"What is this thing?" Kerrigan demanded.

"Kerrigan, meet Abathur. Abathur, Kerrigan. Abathur here was the Overmind's old evolution master. He created us."

"What?" Kerrigan frowned. "You're telling me this creature was responsible for what happened to me in the chrysalis?"

"Spun your sequences," Abathur responded matter-of-factly. "Can continue. Give arm. Will return, improved." Abathur held out several of his hands.

"Get away from me, monster!" Kerrigan shouted, backing away. "You've caused me enough pain." She shot a fiery look at me. Then she took a deep breath. "Fine, he's useful, so I won't kill him. You deal with him. I refuse. Give me the parasite when he's done. I'll journey to Shakuras and solve our Overmind problem."

I nodded. "Of course, Kerrigan." I'd forgotten about the scream I'd heard while Kerrigan was in the chrysalis. It must have been a much worse experience for her than it was for me. I couldn't even remember it. I grew worried: I'd much rather the Terrans I infest in the future have experiences like mine than like Kerrigan's.

Kerrigan harrumphed, unfurled her wings, and flew away again.

I watched her go, then turned to Abathur. "Why did she scream in the chrysalis?"

Abathur blinked his four large glowing green eyes. "She resisted. Was strong. Could not spin sequences. Had to force. Caused pain."

"I didn't resist when I was in the chrysalis?"

"Little. Easily overcome."

"Hmm. I'll have to make sure I talk to the Terrans before we infest them, so they'll know not to resist."

"Can try."

"Good. Things are looking up. Now, let's get you to work on that parasite, Abathur. Do you need anything?"

"No. Can work in hatchery. Will use stored biomass."

"Great."

...

A few days later, Kerrigan stood at the entryway to an overlord's transportation orifice, carefully holding the completed parasite in her fist.

"Are you sure you can handle this alone?" I asked, not for the first time. "It's not too late for me to join you."

"No, Cerebrate. Trust me. I'll take care of this."

"You don't want my help?"

"It's not that. This journey will be dangerous. I want to be sure you will be safe. Besides, here, you can keep working on figuring out how to properly infest people. That's your project. Saving us from the Overmind is mine."

"Alright, Kerrigan. I will miss having you around. Safe journey."

Kerrigan shook her head and smiled. "You sentimental fool. Don't die." So saying, she boarded the overlord.

I watched as the overlord floated off into the sky. When I could no longer spot the bulbous purple creature amongst the clouds of ash, and could no longer feel Kerrigan's telepathic presence in my mind, I finally turned back to my hatchery. "Time to see about evolving some Larvae," I murmured to myself.

…

Over the next few weeks, Abathur set to work evolving a subspecies of larva with greater intelligence and free will. Not having much else to do myself, I bugged him a great deal to explain his work.

I could tell he was quite annoyed by my insistent questions, but I ignored his attempts to get me to leave. I was the ruler of the Zerg now, so he couldn't very well refuse me.

Unfortunately, there was no chance of me being able to spin sequences myself, as Abathur informed me he had specially designed organs within his body for manipulating genetic code. Abathur's creative process, I discovered with some disgust while watching him, consisted of swallowing biomass, reading and manipulating its genetic code internally, spitting it out again, and then using his many arms, together with a growth catalyst contained in his saliva, to shape it as he desired. He additionally possessed organs capable of recording and telepathically communicating the changes that he made in genetic code to Zerg larvae, which possessed special organs for receiving these signals and editing their own genetic code. This meant that if, for example, Abathur edited the DNA of zerglings so that they would be allergic to lemon juice, he could broadcast these edits to all the larvae connected to his hivemind, causing all of the future zerglings that would be morphed from larvae in his brood to also possess the allergy.

As disgusting as it looked, I had to admit it was a truly elegant and efficient process. The Zerg really were the most highly evolved creatures I could imagine. Unfortunately, however, in this case the process could not help us, because Abathur could not broadcast his genetic edits without changing every larvae, which would result in even common zerglings and hydralisks becoming intelligent and difficult to control. So, much to his chagrin, he had to perform the menial task of repeatedly making the same genetic changes to specific larvae, as well as providing them all with copies of his own genetic code.

It was all worth it when the first of the new larvae hatched from its egg, however. A serpentine, many-armed body drew itself up before me, indistinguishable from Abathur save for a slightly darker coloring.

"Do you understand what you are?" I asked it.

"Yes. Evolution master. Spin sequences. Name: Abathur."

"Good. We need your help making more of your species. Go find the original Abathur in the spawning chamber."

"I obey."

It wasn't long before a third Abathur and a fourth Abathur had hatched as well. The more Abathurs we evolved, the faster we could create more. An exponential growth occurred, until, a couple weeks later, I ordered production cease when we had reached 1,024 Abathurs. When the process had begun, the brood had stockpiled millions of units of the mineral resources necessary to catalyze the growth of larvae into other Zerg creatures. Abathurs were so expensive in terms of the mineral cost of their production, however, that the brood had run out of the resources that would be necessary for an additional set of Abathurs. Besides, I felt this number sufficient for now. In the absence of Terran subjects to infest, I set the many Abathurs to work in the hive cluster's evolution pits, making whatever edits to the Zerg forces seemed beneficial. Meanwhile, I prepared my army for a raid on a nearby Terran world.


	10. Return

I was in the sac, ordering my minions about, when an overlord I had sent on a scouting mission suddenly screamed a telepathic warning. I immediately switched my mental perspective so as to see what it saw, and I discovered an entire protoss fleet descending upon Char, heading for a location not far from the nascent overmind. What's more, as I watched I saw a ship deviate from the fleet, heading instead straight for my hive cluster.

I panicked at first, and began ordering the creation of more defenses, before I was able to make out that the ship that had broken from the protoss fleet was actually a zerg overlord. At first I was confused, wondering if the protoss had somehow taken control of a zerg brood, before I remembered that Kerrigan had sought an alliance with the protoss so that they would kill the overmind for us. Suddenly, I felt like an idiot. Of course the protoss fleet was here to destroy the overmind. I just had never expected Kerrigan to succeed in her mission so quickly!

I swam out of the sac, and walked out of my hatchery to meet the approaching overlord. Kerrigan jumped out of her transport before the overlord had even slowed down, and she strode over to me with eyes that spat fire.

"This is incredible, Kerrigan," I said, smiling. "I never expected you to accomplish your mission so quickly!"

"Don't get too excited," Kerrigan muttered grumpily. "They're only here for a special crystal in a nearby cave system. They think it'll help them defend Shakuras from the renegade Zerg."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "So, they're not going to kill the Overmind?"

Kerrigan grimaced. "Not yet. I corrupted their matriarch, but I was only able to influence her to accept my help in their mission, not to join me on mine. They're too concerned with defending Shakuras to worry about the new overmind. But I'm hoping that once I help them destroy the renegade zerg on their planet, which we would want to do eventually anyways, I will be able to manipulate then into destroying the overmind."

I groaned. "So I got all excited for nothing. Oh well, it's still better than my first thought, which was that the fleet was coming to exterminate us."

"No," Kerrigan replied, "but I do need our forces. I'm going to help the protoss cut a hole through Daggoth's hive cluster to reach the crystal."

I nodded. "Very well. Whatever helps you secure their trust. I'll send the orders." So saying, I turned to walk back into the hatchery.

"Wait," Kerrigan called to me. "Tell me of your progress in your own mission."

I smiled and turned around again. "I have successfully morphed multiple Abathurs. I am ready to begin infestations, so by the time you come back with the protoss again, you should find many more creatures like us living here."

Kerrigan nodded. "Excellent."

"Oh!" I exclaimed. "I nearly forgot. For the moment, I've set the Abathurs to work on evolving the swarm. With so many of them, their progress is swift: they've already informed me that they created a new creature from the body of a hydralisk. They're calling it a 'lurker,' because it borrows underground, lurks there, then surprises enemy forces by shooting rows of spines through the ground into unsuspecting flesh. It's stealthy. I like it."

"Interesting," said Kerrigan. "It sounds like your mission is going better than mine. Keep it up."

"Thank you, Kerrigan. Now, shall I see to our forces?"

Kerrigan nodded, so I turned and walked towards the hatchery once again. Just before I entered the structure's cavernous opening, I glanced back at Kerrigan. She was watching me go with an unreadable expression on her face.

…

The next few hours saw me overseeing several battles against Daggoth's zerg. It was the first time we'd gone up against him directly, but he still made no attempt to contact me. I wondered if he was even still capable. In any case, his defenses suffered greatly as my minions poured through the volcanic cave systems that crisscrossed Char's underground, destroying every sunken colony and burrowed zergling they encountered. It felt strange to see protoss zealots and dragoons fighting alongside my forces. I kept having to fight back the instinct to attack them as soon as I caught sight of them.

In the end, the battle was fairly uneventful. The new overmind's control over his forces was very weak, and he relied almost entirely on his defensive placements, never sending out a force of his own. The protoss quickly found the crystal they were looking for, a giant blue thing, and sent one of their robot workers to carry it back to their fleet. Once it was safely in their possession, they began to load their shuttles with their troops again, before launching them to rejoin their fleet in the sky. Kerrigan returned to her overlord, taking with her three prototype lurkers. She had expressed interest in keeping lurkers around for help defending herself, should the need arise, while using their unique ability to keep them hidden from the protoss, so I had ordered an Abathur to lend her some. When Kerrigan and her lurkers had finished boarding, Kerrigan shot me a telepathic instruction me to carry on with my own mission—as though I needed her approval—before ordering her overlord to return to the protoss. As I watched, the whole fleet rose of out the sky, entered orbit, and warped away from Char. I was left staring into space with a heavy heart.

…

While I worked on replenishing my minerals and morphing my army, I wondered which planet I should invade first. I couldn't risk invading a well-protected planet like Korhal or Moria. Even if I could punch past their defenses, I wouldn't be able to survive the retaliatory strike from the planet's allies that would surely come. At first I was thinking about looking for Terran survivors on Tarsonis. Another group of zerg there wouldn't raise any eyebrows. But there was no guarantee I'd even be able to find surviving Terrans, while there was a guarantee I'd have to fight a lot of renegade zerg.

While I was contemplating, an Abathur approached me.

"Information for you," he announced.

"What is it, Abathur?"

"Plans completed for new strain of Zerg. Designation: Leviathan. Massive space-faring transport. Can hold and control whole army without help of overlords."

"It amazes me how fast you work, Abathur. And the Leviathan sounds really useful. But where will you get enough biomass to morph such a massive creature?"

"Can cannibalize structures. Take biomass from hatcheries, spawning pools, others."

"Hmm. A heavy cost, but might be worth it. Impressive work. Convey my gratitude to the rest of the Abathurs."

The Abathur nodded. "Further information for you."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "What is it?"

"New army in Koprulu sector. Name: United Earth Directorate. Origin: Earth. Goal: Unknown."

My eyes shot wide open. "What?! An army from freaking EARTH has arrived here? That doesn't make any sense! How do you know this?"

"Army encountered by Dominion. Dominion radio channels reported on encounter."

"Hang on, how can you listen in on Dominion radio channels?"

"Alter frequency of telepathic signals. Hear radio like hear hive mind. Cerebrate can too. Will show."

The Abathur telepathically sent me instructions for mentally adjusting whatever organ was responsible for receiving telepathic signals to allow it to receive radio signals as well. I remembered now that Zasz had broadcast Duke's radio signal. This must have been how he had heard it.

When I'd finished following Abathur's instructions, I heard a terran woman's voice. "-you, Donny. We still await further information on the mysterious fleet, claiming to be from Earth, encountered at the Dominion outpost world of Braxis. In more uplifting news, colonists are returning to the planet of Mar Sara, recently invaded by zerg and incinerated by protoss. Kel-Morian prospectors began the recolonization process nearly a month ago, when they discovered that the protoss attack had imbued Mar Saran minerals with strange and valuable properties. Now, the surviving colonists who had once called Mar Sara home are returning there in droves. Emperor Mengsk famously saved these colonists when the late Confederacy abandoned them to die. Today, Mengsk gave his blessing to the recolonization effort, making the following imperial proclamation…"

I turned off my radio receiver when I began to hear Mengsk's voice. I had no desire to listen to his propaganda. I was still grateful for his help in evacuating the colonists from Mar Sara, but even then, even when I was working for him, I knew why he had helped us. He was never interested in our lives. He just wanted to look better than the Confederates.

"Thank you, Abathur. You have been a great help to me."

The Abathur respectfully dipped his bulbous head and took his leave.

So, there were now terrans on Mar Sara again. Undefended terrans. Terrans no one would be surprised encountered a zerg colony that miraculously survived the protoss bombardment. Terrans I knew and liked, and therefore terrans with whom I wished to share the glories of infested life. Perhaps most importantly, terrans that, if infested, would make Mengsk look really bad. I knew my target.


	11. Infested

For a while now, I'd felt a strange buzzing in the back of my mind. It had been easy to ignore, but as I finished my preparations, it grew clearer and more demanding, and I began to make out the voice behind the whispers. It was the Overmind. His influence was growing, and he was attempting to reassert control over me and my swarm. Scouts I had sent to keep an eye on the creature reported the arrival of more zerg broods to Char, led by Cerebrates apparently responding to the new Overmind's call. Then, the minds of my scouts began to blink out of the hive mind, like lights turning off. The Overmind was reclaiming what was his. The time had come to leave.

I ordered the Abathurs begin to construct the leviathan. I was grateful now that we would be cannibalizing my structures - better than leaving them for the Overmind to utilize against us. It was interesting to watch the Abathurs work. They would begin by inducing a structure to return to the cocoon or egg-like state from which it began when a drone was in the process of morphing into it. They would insert themselves into this cocoon, swimming in the deconstructed biomass and swiftly editing it into the form required by some part of the leviathan. Considering the massive scope of the changes they'd need to make, I expected a single Abathur would take several months to make all the adjustments. But with a thousand Abathurs working together, perfectly in sync via the hivemind, the process was completed in a matter of hours. As soon as the Abathurs pronounced my new mobile command base space-worthy, I gathered my forces and ordered them to enter the beast.

The embarking process took nearly another hour, and all the while the mental pressure of the Overmind continued to grow. By the time I ordered lift-off from my place in the head of the Leviathan, it was painful to resist him, and I'd lost whole control groups of my slower minions to his influence. I breathed a sigh of relief when the leviathan entered warp space, and the Overmind's mental voice finally silenced.

…

The second zerg invasion of Mar Sara commenced the next day. Defenses were practically non-existent. A few Morian marines, some ramshackle turrets, and several hastily-constructed walls. My swarm washed over towns like an ocean wave washing over grains of sand on a beach, and we retreated with our prizes just as quickly. The Mar Sarans never even had a chance to transmit a distress signal before my forces abducted them all. My leviathan flew around the planet, picking up captured Terrans. My minions escorted them to a specially designed holding chamber in the creature, one massive in scope. When the chamber had been filled with the bodies of thousands of colonists, every one we could find, I ordered we lift off into orbit. The whole thing was over in less than a day.

…

I left the colonists in the chamber for a short time to talk amongst themselves and recover from the shock of being manhandled by a bunch of alien monsters. Then I opened one of the Leviathan's membranes that served as a door, and entered a balcony-like area overlooking the chamber. I stood there in full view for a moment, listening as the panicked chatter of the colonists died down to whispers as they began to notice me and stare up at my infested body in fear. When I felt I had their full attention, I began my speech.

"Brothers and sisters, do not be frightened. I am in command of the Zerg here, and I swear you will not be harmed. I only wished to bring you here to bestow upon you a gift. You see, I was once like you. Frail. Weak. Human. But I've become something so much greater. I am strong and fast. I can fly and burrow under the earth. And most importantly, I am immortal. Imagine never having to watch a loved one die, never having to worry about dying yourself. That is the gift I intend to bestow upon you. What say you?"

Louder whispers. Then, a voice. "Don't listen to it! It's talking about infestation!"

I laughed loudly, intending for my audience to hear. "Do I sound like any of the infested you have heard of? The infested are dumb minions, beasts like the rest of the zerg creatures. But I am intelligent. The zerg used a new technique to create me, and I will use the same technique to create new, better versions of you. You will retain your minds. I swear it."

More whispers. Then a new voice, surprisingly calm. "Why should we trust you?"

"Many of you know me," I answered. "I was the colonial magistrate of this planet for some time. I evacuated you, saved you from the Zerg. I eventually fell to the Zerg myself when Arcturus Mengsk betrayed me, left me to die. But the Zerg didn't kill me. They made me into this. If you trusted me then, you can trust me now. I only want to share with you the gifts I have received."

A third voice piped up with a suggestion as to where I could shove my gift.

"I should be clear. It doesn't matter whether you agree to my gift or not. You will receive it either way. But the process will be more… painful, if you resist. I hope to spare you that pain, by telling you not to resist, that you have nothing to fear."

"I, for one, look forward to receiving your gift," spoke another voice, which I recognized as the calm voice that had asked about my trustworthiness. "Remember me when the process is over." Looking down, I was able to identify him as he stepped out from the crowd. He was a tall and skinny man with dark skin, a black goatee, and a red beret. "My name is Duran," he called up to me.

I nodded at him, then I telepathically sent the order to the waiting Abathurs. "Prepare yourselves," I shouted, just before the Abathurs began to pour into the room and a massive chrysalis began to grow up out of the fleshy ground, engulfing all the colonists. The screams began.

…

Hours passed. I kept the leviathan on high alert for any warp signatures from retaliatory forces, but it seemed I'd been successful in preventing word from getting out. And there wasn't any other planet I particularly needed to visit. Still, though the audible screams had silenced long ago, many of the colonists were still strong and resistant enough to broadcast psionic screams. Not nearly as loud as Kerrigan's, but loud enough that I was nervous something would hear.

Suddenly, my fears were realized. The leviathan reported a warp signature entering the system. I ordered the launching of scourge to protect us, but something held me back from commanding them to seek and destroy the enemy. The leviathan was only reporting one warp signature. What sort of force would arrive in a single ship? I decided to send a mutalisk scout to investigate instead. When it reached the site of the warp-in, I blinked in surprise. Looking through its eyes, I saw an overlord. Kerrigan's overlord.

…

"What happened?" I asked as soon as Kerrigan had boarded the Leviathan.

"One of them discovered that I had implanted a parasite into the Dark Templar matriarch," Kerrigan replied, looking at me with fiery eyes. "I killed him before he revealed the truth to the other protoss, but that made the other protoss exile me."

I growled - a low, bestial sound. "But we need them. We have to kill the overmind."

"You don't have to tell me that!" she snapped at me. "When I returned to Char, I felt its power. I feared it had already asserted control over you. It was a relief to hear the psychic screams of your victims, assuring me you were alive."

I exhaled. "Sorry to have put you through that. They're not victims, though."

Kerrigan shook her head. "You know what I mean. Anyway, the parasite is still safely in the matriarch. Give it time to grow. We'll destroy the overmind yet. Now, tell me, what is this creature we're in?"

"The Abathurs called it a Leviathan. It's our new command base. We morphed it out of the biomass of our old hive cluster's structures."

"It's nice," Kerrigan observed, looking at the fleshy walls around us appreciatively.

"Right? The Abathurs never cease to amaze. Speaking of…" I spotted an Abathur approaching us in the hallway we were conversing in. I quickly checked the hive mind and noted that the psionic screaming had ceased.

"Is it done?" I asked Abathur when he'd slithered up to us.

"Evolution complete," Abathur answered. "Only few dead."

My eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean? How did they die?"

"Too old or too young. Stressful experience. Hearts give out. Cannot resuscitate."

I blinked. "You're telling me you killed babies?"

"Could not be helped."

"You should have informed me of this danger before we began! I would have insisted that those too weak to undergo infestation be spared!"

"The weak die. The strong survive. Principle of evolution. Cannot change."

"Sometimes the weak become strong! If we had allowed those babies to grow up, they could have become strong enough to undergo infestation! As for the elderly, we should have let them die naturally. Would have been less painful."

"Pain irrelevant. Deaths useful. Provided biomass."

My mouth hung open a minute. "You… you used the bodies of the dead to construct the new zerg bodies for survivors?"

"Affirmative."

I took a deep breath. "Get out, Abathur."

"Cerebrate?"

"Get out. I won't say it again."

Abathur dipped his head respectfully, and slithered away.

Kerrigan chuckled.

I turned on her. "You think this is funny?"

"I think your reaction is funny. You're usually so calm. It's nice to see your spirit come out."

I scoffed. "Spirit. Right."

Kerrigan shook her head. "Anyway, I imagine you'll be addressing our new comrades soon. Mind if I come along?"

I sighed, releasing my pent up tension. "Of course. I don't know how I'm going to explain the deaths. I swore they wouldn't be harmed."

"They're Zerg now." Kerrigan answered. "They'll understand."

…

Looking out from the balcony, Kerrigan at my side, I saw thousands of infested bodies just like ours. Bony wings, tight exoskeletons, skin colors of green, brown, or purple. I could feel their mental presence in the hive mind. And they could feel my presence, quieting themselves and turning to regard me as I overlooked them.

I took a deep breath. "Brothers and sisters," I began. "Welcome to your new lives. I have no doubt you will come to enjoy your new condition, if you do not already. I now offer to you a choice. You may return to Mar Sara, and continue to colonize it, but this time for the glory of our new immortal Zerg society, and with the aid of thousands of your own zerg minions. Or you may stay on this ship, and aid us in our mission to bring the gift of infestation to the rest of the Terran worlds."

Voices rumbled below. A woman cried out from the crowd. "Where's my baby?! What have you done with him?!"

I bowed my head. I really hadn't wanted to broach this topic, but I knew it was inevitable. "I am sorry," I called out to the crowd. "A few among you were too weak to survive the process of infestation. I swear I did not expect that. I believed the process would be harmless to all of you, but it is a new thing, still experimental. I was wrong, and I am deeply sorry for those of you who lost loved ones."

I heard the woman break down sobbing as other voices rose into a loud clamor reverberating throughout the chamber.

I gave them some time to talk, idly wondering what the crying woman would think of the experience without working tear ducts. Then I shouted over the hubbub of the crowd. "The time has come to choose." They quieted, except for the crying woman. "If you wish to return to Mar Sara, move to the doors you came through. We will return you to your towns. If you wish to stay and help us save the rest of the Terran race from their frail bodies, step forward."

I waited. No one moved. Then, slowly, people began to retreat. A massive membrane existed at the back of the room, which could open to allow an exit out the side of the leviathan. Everyone walked towards it. Many of them hung their heads, looking defeated, pitiable.

This wasn't what I had envisioned.

Then, one man stepped forward. It was the dark-skinned man with the beret. Duran. "I will help you," he declared.


	12. The Insurgent

The next day was spent returning the infested to the places we had taken them from. Though the initial response hadn't been as positive as I'd hoped, I believed they would grow to appreciate what I had done for them in time. I ordered the morphing of zerg hatcheries outside each town as well, so that the colonists would benefit from the free labor of their own zerg. None of them were as psionically powerful as Kerrigan, nor an overmind-appointed Cerebrate like me, but they still possessed enough telepathic power to control a couple zerg minions on their own.

The hive mind meant there was no danger of any of them turning on each other or on me, but I still worried about Mengsk, Morians, or Protoss discovering them and deciding to attack. They would be far from helpless should such an event occur, but I thought they still might need my help, so I left a few specially designed overlords - the Abathurs had named them "overseers" - to watch over them, using their long-range telepathy transmitters to keep me informed even when I was systems away.

When the task was done, I called a meeting, so Kerrigan and I could to talk to Duran.

"Welcome, Duran," I began, when he had responded to my summons and joined Kerrigan and I at the head of the Leviathan.

"Thank you," the man replied, dipping his head. "I must admit, you seem to have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I do not know yours."

"This is Kerrigan," I said, gesturing at the woman beside me. "And my name is-"

"I am the Queen of Blades," Kerrigan interrupted. "And you shall address me as 'my Queen.'"

Before I could say anything, the man had bowed to her. "Of course, my Queen," he said, with just a hint of a smile.

"Er… why don't you just refer to me as 'Cerebrate'?" I said, a little surprised and annoyed by Kerrigan's demand. "Since we're using titles. You can pick out a title too, if you wish."

"Before your attack, I was a lieutenant in a mercenary company. So lieutenant is my title," Duran answered formally, as though reporting to a superior officer.

"As you wish, lieutenant," I responded. "Now, I am curious. Why did you agree to join us, when so many of your fellow colonists refused?"

"Oh, I wasn't a colonist," answered Duran. "I had my own mission on Mar Sara. It's not important any more, of course. As for why I agreed to join you, it is clear to me that you will soon be the dominant power in this sector. I like to be on the winning side."

"Spoken like a true mercenary," observed Kerrigan

Duran looked at her strangely. "Indeed. If that means you don't trust me, perhaps this will help. I have crucial information concerning the mission of the UED."

That got my attention. "You know why they're here?"

"Yes. They seek to control the new zerg overmind."

"What?!" Kerrigan sputtered. "That's ridiculous!"

"I assure you, it is true. They have special drugs they believe will pacify the creature and render it open to suggestion, effectively putting the swarm at their disposal."

I exhaled. "They don't dream small, have to give them that."

"How do you know this?" Kerrigan demanded.

"Let's just say I intercepted a key transmission," Duran answered cryptically. "What matters now is stopping them."

"Agreed," I replied. "There's no way we could bring a dark templar close enough to destroy the overmind while the overmind is guarded by the entire UED fleet. But as it stands there's also no way we could stop the UED with our current number of forces. Suggestions?"

Kerrigan scoffed. "You're the strategist. My plan would just be to build up forces and then destroy everything I can."

"Risky," I answered, frowning.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance," cut in Duran. Then, before my eyes, the bony wings protruding from his back shrunk and shriveled into nothing, and his brown exoskeleton seemed to evaporate. His eye color changed, he regrew his goatee, and clothes appeared on his body. Standing before me was the man I had infested, looking just as he did before infestation.

"My new zerg cells seem to be more malleable than most," Duran explained. "It appears I can take on the appearance of a normal human."

"Intriguing," I commented as I stared at him quizzically. "I'll have to ask the Abathurs about allowing Kerrigan and I to do the same."

"That may be wise, though it is possible that this was an ability latent in my genetic code even before infestation, and the Abathurs will be unable to replicate it. Terrans are strange creatures sometimes."

"I suppose…" I replied, narrowing my eyes. Something didn't seem right about this man. Finally, I sighed. Nothing to do but take him at his word for now. "At any rate, how does this help us solve our UED problem?"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Duran, raising his now hairy eyebrows. "Infiltration. I offer the services of my mercenary company to the UED, I win their trust, they let me in to their briefing rooms, give me and my men important roles in battles, and when the time comes, I stab them in the back. All you will have to do is sit back and watch the show as we destroy all your enemies."

"A bold move," Kerrigan commented.

I smiled. "Indeed. I like it. It's risky too, of course, but it seems like the best chance we have. While you're working on destabilizing them from the inside, Kerrigan and I will work on her plan, and continue to build up our forces. Hopefully together we will be able to deliver a fatal blow."

"Then it is agreed," Duran pronounced. "If you would be so kind as to lend me a transport capable of warp travel, I will gather my company and get to work."

"You may take any overlord you choose," I said. "Keep me appraised of your progress."

"Of course," replied Duran. Then he bowed to Kerrigan, then to me. "My Queen. Cerebrate."

I bowed back. "Lieutenant."

Kerrigan just smiled.

Then Duran turned around and marched out into the hallways of the Leviathan.

"I don't trust him," I commented to Kerrigan when he had departed.

"He seems fine to me," Kerrigan answered.

I chuckled. "You just like that he calls you Queen."

"Doesn't hurt," Kerrigan replied with a grin.

…

I stared out the massive eyes of the Leviathan that served as windows, watching Duran warp out of the system in the direction of Braxis. When he had left, I turned to the Abathur I had summoned to meet me.

"Tell me, Abathur, why was Duran able to change his form?"

"Unknown. Sequences strange. Terran sequences, but pliable. Duran easy to infest. Usually, spinning sequences like shaping rock. Rigid, strong, must break down. Spinning his sequences like shaping water. Needed only guide it. Unusual."

"Don't you have any idea why his genetic code is so odd?"

"Only speculation. Could be natural mutation. May be product of experiment by Terran scientist. Unknown."

I rubbed my temple. "Great. Well, are you at least able to replicate the… mutation, or whatever it is, so that Kerrigan and I can obtain the same ability?"

"Negative. Can spin sequences. Cannot replace one kind of sequence with another. This is why assimilation necessary. Cannot morph zerglings into hydralisks. Must morph from larvae. Larvae sequences unformed. But Terran sequences too complicated to morph from larvae. Even newly created larvae strain could only evolve imitation Terrans. Not true Terran sequences. Same principle for Duran's mutated Terran sequences."

I growled in frustration, then sighed. "I won't pretend to have understood all that, but I get the gist. I guess I'll just have to hope Duran continues to work with us."

"There's another problem," Kerrigan broke in. She had been staring silently out the window while I conversed with Abathur.

I turned to look at her. "What's that?"

Still staring into space, Kerrigan answered, "If you accomplish your goal and infest all Terrans, Terrans will become unable to reproduce. I'd assumed we'd be able to morph more from Larvae, but Abathur just said that's impossible."

My eyes flew open wide as I comprehended what Kerrigan had said. I swore loudly. "You're right. I might make individual Terrans able to live indefinitely, but eventually some extreme violence will kill them, and without the ability to replenish their numbers, I'd condemn the Terran race to extinction!"

Abathur spoke up. "Solution."

I spun towards him. "Yes?"

"Retain uninfested population for breeding."

I blinked. "You would have us cage and breed humans like animals?"

"Could. Or could permit uninfested society.

I frowned and began to pace back and forth, thinking. "Yeah, I suppose I could construct a society where you are granted the gift of infestation only after you reproduce, or something similar. But I can foresee a few problems with that - not the least of which is that it would condemn some Terrans to die of things like disease or light violence when I could have saved them if I'd let them be infested. Ugh. Is there another solution? Could you evolve your design for infested terrans so as to allow us to retain our natural reproductive ability?"

"Mammalian reproduction incompatible with infested body. Would require loss of exoskeleton, regenerative cells, protective hormones. More. Too weak."

"What about a non-mammalian form of reproduction?"

"Egg-based reproduction intriguing. Unlikely. Possible. Will investigate."

"That's much less fun, though," Kerrigan smirked.

"Pleasure irrelevant."

"Thank you, Abathur," I broke in, fearing an argument. "Get to work on solving the reproduction problem. That will be all."

Abathur dipped his head and slithered away.

I moved to stand beside Kerrigan as she continued staring into space.

"What are you looking at?" I asked her.

She tore her eyes away from the window to look at me. "Just wondering where we should go now." She smiled, but her eyes were not merry. I wondered what she had really been thinking about.

I decided not to press her. "Yes, we can't stay building up our forces on Mar Sara. Too obvious to our enemies, once they discover what we've done here. It'd endanger the colonists, plus I think the colonists need some time to adjust away from us. Can't go back to Char either. That's where the Overmind is, and where the UED will be headed. Did you have any idea where we should go?"

Kerrigan nodded. "I think we should put our base on Tarsonis. We'll be able to hide among the feral Zerg and take control of some of them."

"Are you sure you're okay with that?"

Kerrigan's expression was unreadable. "Just promise me Mengsk will pay."

"I promise."

She took my hand in hers and squeezed it as best she could given the hard exoskeleton covering it. My eyes widened in surprise. "Then I'll be fine," Kerrigan declared.

I nodded. We stared into space together, each of us lost in our own thoughts, holding hands.


	13. Emperor's Flight

Over the next few months, Kerrigan and I worked hard to build up our forces on Tarsonis. Duran swiftly succeeded in getting himself conscripted and ingratiated with the leadership of the UED, and now he messaged us updates on the UED's progress every few weeks when he could get to his overlord secretly. He informed us when the UED finished destroying the Dominion outpost on Braxis, and turned their attention to the Dylarian shipyards. They stole a bunch of Mengsk's battlecruisers in dry dock there. We didn't hear from Duran for a bit after that, but he was finally able to get out a message just in time to warn us that the UED was about to visit Tarsonis. Apparently, UED scouts had discovered a psi disruptor on the planet's surface: an experimental Confederate device capable of disrupting zerg telepathic communications. Thankfully, Duran had been able to convince them to destroy the device rather than take it for themselves, so we simply had to hide in another part of the planet while the UED came and went, thinking us mere feral zerg like those they fought that surrounded the psi disruptor.

Once the UED fleet had departed the planet again, I sent a couple overlords to keep an eye on the site of the psi disruptor. The UED had left just a handful of men and ships behind at the foot of the device. As I watched, SCVs worked to disassemble the massive device into component parts and load them onto the ships. I wondered what they were doing. Duran had assured me they were going to destroy the device, but this looked like they were collecting it. Perhaps they wished to study it for insight into the mechanics behind Zerg telepathy? I briefly considered sending my army in to stop them, but the UED would surely hear about the incursion and send their fleet to retaliate, and we were not yet ready to face them. For now, I had to let them do what they will with the disruptor parts. So I ignored them, and when they had finished dissembling the device, they left.

Our next update came as a surprise. Duran informed us the UED was already beginning the siege of Mengsk's throne world, Korhal.

"They're taking out Mengsk before the Overmind?" I asked Duran telepathically from my place within a special chamber of the Leviathan designed to extend my psionic connection through the vastness of space.

"Yes, they seem to believe he is the greater threat," Duran's voice answered.

"We can't allow this," Kerrigan chimed in. "Mengsk is mine to kill. I won't let some nobodies from deep space steal my vengeance from me."

I rolled my eyes, but said, "In this case, I agree that we must do something, but I'm less concerned with revenge and more with taking out the UED. Loathsome though it might be, we'll probably need Mensgk's assistance."

Kerrigan growled, then paused in thought. "And once the UED is dead we betray and kill him, right?"

"I suppose so."

"Very well. Getting him to trust us again first will make my revenge all the sweeter."

"If I may interrupt," Duran broke in. "How exactly do you plan to stop them? Their fleet is certainly formidable."

I looked at Kerrigan, thinking. Then… "The Protoss have personnel teleportation technology, right?" I asked.

"Yes, I saw it in action during my time with them," replied Kerrigan. "It requires either a special structure or an arbiter-class starship. Why?"

"See if you can't get their matriarch to send an arbiter to teleport Mengsk out, then. Make sure it's just before the UED captures him so he knows how dependent he is on us."

Kerrigan smiled. "Devious. I'd love to see the look on the UED admiral's face when Mengsk escapes from right under his nose."

"I'll try to take a picture for you," Duran commented wryly. "But just so you're all aware, Admiral DuGalle won't simply accept defeat. He'd chase Mengsk all the way to the Protoss homeworld."

"Then we'll just have to be ready for him," I answered. I looked at Kerrigan. "The Protoss succeeded in destroying the renegade zerg on Shakuras, right?"

"I believe so."

"Then have the matriarch bring Mengsk to Aiur instead. The UED won't be suspicious if a bunch of zerg suddenly attack them there, and we can press some of the feral zerg into our service."

"Heh, very well. I'll speak with the matriarch immediately." Kerrigan grinned evilly, and left the room.

"Anything else, Cerebrate?" asked Duran's mental voice.

"Are you aware that the psi disruptor was not destroyed, but rather disassembled and its parts loaded onto UED ships?"

"Truly?" Duran's voice was surprised. "Then Stukov lied to me. Perhaps he has begun to see through my manipulations. I will have to take care of him soon."

"If you discover what they've done with the parts, let me know. We cannot afford the disruptor's… disruptions."

"Of course," Duran answered, a hint of a smile in his voice.

"Then that is all," I replied. "Best of luck."

"And to you."

…

While the UED ravaged Korhal, I made my preparations. I warped the leviathan to Aiur and began asserting control over feral zerg. I was able to govern over far more of them than I ever had before because the Abathurs had invented yet another new zerg unit: an evolution of the queen they called a "broodmother." Broodmothers were effectively replacement Cerebrates. They were intelligent beings who could extend my control over the Swarm, much as the Cerebrates had extended control for the Overmind. I couldn't consciously control the units governed by a broodmother, but the broodmothers could, and the broodmothers had to obey my psionic commands just as the Cerebrates had had to obey the overmind.

So I journeyed around Aiur, using my mind control ability to take control of feral zerg, before mentally assigning them to the auspices of one broodmother or another. It was slow work, for I could only assert control over a small number of ferals at once, but it greatly increased the size of my army on Aiur. Still, there were so many ferals on Aiur left stranded there after the death of the overmind that we barely made a dent in their population.

At the same time, I sent an overseer to spy on the events of the battle at Korhal and listen in on unencrypted UED radio transmissions, instructing it to notify me when the UED contacted Mengsk. Eventually, it broadcast a transmission to me.

"…the elusive Arcturus Mengsk at last," the UED admiral was saying in the dignified voice of an old man sure of himself. "I was hoping to speak with you before we finished our business here. I am Admiral Gerard DuGalle, and I must commend you, sir, for holding back our advance for as long as you have. You are indeed a worthy opponent."

 _You mean Edmund Duke is a worthy opponent_ , I thought with a twinge of resentment. _I bet Mengsk would have seemed worthier if I had been the one commanding Korhal's defense_.

"My thanks to you, sir," Mengsk replied in a slimy, confident voice. "But you must know that your victory here means little to me. It might have taken me awhile, but I did overthrow the Confederacy."

 _The Zerg overthrew the Confederacy_ , I grumbled.

"I'll overthrow your rule as well," Mengsk continued.

That seems unlikely, sir," Dugalle replied. "Seeing as how you'll be publicly executed along with the rest of your ranking officers."

"You wouldn't dare!" It made me happy to hear fear in Mengsk's voice.

"Hah!" Dugalle barked a laugh. "The man who crowns himself 'Emperor' speaks to me of daring? You have far outlived your reputation, _citizen_ Mengsk. Men, prepare to take the Emperor into custody."

Then came the moment I was waiting for. An adjutant broke into the conversation. "Sir, a small Protoss fleet has just entered our sensor range."

Dugalle roared. "What? Who are these intruders?!"

Mengsk was just as confused. "The Protoss? What the hell are you doing here?"

The Protoss, if they detected the Terran radio signal, did not deign to respond. There was a pause, then a burst of static marking the Protoss' dimensional recall. I knew Dugalle was seeing Mengsk's flagship and the Protoss fleet disappear.

"This is intolerable!" Dugalle shouted, no longer sounding so dignified. "They're escaping right out from under us! Track them! Track them!"

Kerrigan was right. I wished I could see his face. I bet it was red with rage. I chuckled at that mental image as the transmission ended. Now I turned my attention to my forces on the ground of Aiur. In accordance with their matriarch's instructions, the Protoss fleet had teleported to the foot of the warp gate to Shakuras. They set up their own defenses as I arranged my broodmothers and their formerly feral broods around them. If the UED wished to reclaim Mengsk, they would swiftly be surrounded.

While I waited to learn of the UED's next course of action, I used one of the Leviathan's many useful organs to open a radio channel of my own to Mengsk's flagship. Couldn't have him ruining our plans by trying to warp away.

"If you wish to be protected from the UED's wrath, stay where you are," I broadcast to his ship. "And if the Protoss begin to retreat through the warpgate, follow them."

"Who is this?" came Mengsk's demanding response. I wondered if my infested voice sounded similar enough to my Terran voice for him to suspect the answer.

"You will know soon enough," I answered cryptically, before terminating the transmission.

Soon, my overseer informed me that, though a significant portion of the UED forces stayed behind to hold Korhal, the bulk of their fleet had warped away. Shortly after, scouts in orbit around Aiur reported the appearance of that fleet. As expected, somehow the UED had managed to successfully trace the destination of the dimensional recall. The fleet quickly deployed soldiers and ships to the ground near the protoss, clearing out a minor group of my zerg forces on the way. The battle for Mengsk's fate began.

It took the UED a while to fight their way through the protoss defenses to the location of Mengsk's flagship. During that time I continued to gather up feral zerg forces and assign them to surrounding broodmothers. Finally, when the UED had almost reached the flagship, the time came. The UED had invested too heavily into their push - retreat would be impossible for many of them. I gave Kerrigan the signal, and ordered all my broodmothers to attack. The surviving Protoss soon began retreating through the warp gate on the orders of their puppet matriarch, and Mensgk was smart enough to follow. I had been prepared to have to fight tooth and claw through the UED perimeter, but upon seeing Zerg movement, one whole flank of the UED defenses up and abandoned their posts, returning to their ships. Duran's forces, I guessed. Their absence left the UED base undefended from one angle of attack, and my broodmothers swiftly exploited the vulnerability. The Swarm rampaged through the UED army. The majority of their forces had fallen before survivors were finally able to organize a retreat. True, I'd lost a great deal of zerg as well, but they were reclaimed ferals, and there were plenty more where they came from. So, in the end, the battle was a resounding victory. Mensgk was ours.


	14. Vile Disruption

It was hours later, when I was overseeing the infestation of captured Terrans, when I finally learned what the UED had done with the disassembled psi disruptor parts: reassembled them somewhere. All of a sudden, I could not control my units anymore. Like a light bulb turning off, my psionic connections to everything on Aiur blinked out of existence. I could do nothing but sit and watch from my leviathan while most of the zerg I had reclaimed went feral again. Those few that I had retained control of immediately began to fight the ferals and were quickly destroyed.

I was barely able to hold onto my control of the leviathan and the units inside. Normally, giving psionic commands to my units was effortless, like speaking audibly. Now, it was like I was shouting underwater. The sound could barely travel, and when it did, it was muffled. The Leviathan amplified the signals like an echo chamber, however, and so I could continue giving vague commands to the forces onboard. But I could no longer command most of those outside the leviathan. It was definitely a setback.

I was pacing around in a panic, desperately trying to strategize our next course of action, when Kerrigan's overlord returned. She boarded the leviathan and rushed to meet with me.

"What happened?" she demanded. "I can no longer sense the parasite in the matriarch. We can't let them take Mengsk away from me!"

"The UED activated the psi disruptor after all, it would seem," I replied, annoyed at her priorities. "And we don't know where they reassembled it. I've been thinking about how to respond, but without control over any scouts, it seems we're dependent on Duran to solve this problem."

Kerrigan growled. "So what can we do? I refuse to sit back and watch our plans fall apart!"

"Me too," I said reassuringly. "The way I see it, there are two tasks we need to accomplish. One of us needs to go back to Tarsonis and assert control over as many of our Zerg there as possible before the army we built up destroys itself. The other one needs to convince Mengsk to lend us a psi emitter. That device should prove to be a sufficient counter to the disruptor to enable us to keep control of enough zerg to pose a threat to the UED."

Kerrigan nodded. "Sensible. I'm torn: on the one hand I get to lie to Mengsk's face about helping him in exchange for psi emitters, and betray him like he betrayed me. On the other hand, I don't have to pretend I'm okay with talking to that monstrous man again."

"I'll solve your dilemma, then," I replied. "You take control on Tarsonis. I'll talk to Mengsk."

Kerrigan chuckled. "Don't trust me not to lose my cool? You underestimate me, Cerebrate."

"Perhaps so," I conceded. "But it still seems the safer option. You are more psionically powerful than me anyway, so you have a better chance at getting your telepathic commands heard by our forces on Tarsonis."

"Fair enough," Kerrigan answered. "I shall depart at once, then. Meet me on Tarsonis once you have the emitter."

I nodded.

…

A few minutes later, as Kerrigan's overlord warped away, I commanded the leviathan to soar over the ruins of the UED forces into the Protoss warp gate. For the first time, I experienced Protoss warp travel. If Terran warp travel was like squeezing through a cold steel pipe, and Zerg warp travel like meandering through hairy intestines, then Protoss warp travel was like flying through a cave made of glowing crystal. It felt much more spacious, but also like bright diamonds were vibrating through my skull. When I emerged on the other side, my teeth ached as though they'd been played like a xylophone.

I looked out the Leviathan's eyes to scout the area. Upon noticing my ship, the Protoss escort flew away, returning to the rest of Shakuras' fleet. I suppose Kerrigan had told the Matriarch to give them orders to leave Mengsk for the Swarm. I worried about how she had justified it to them. If we made the Matriarch give too many strange commands, she would lose her credibility and be disobeyed when she told them to destroy the overmind.

Oh, well. I could worry about the overmind later. Now, I needed to worry about Mengsk. I used one of the specially designed organs in the leviathan's head to broadcast a video conference call to Mengsk's flagship, as it now stood alone, save for the giant zerg monstrosity, in front of the warp gate.

"Hello, Arcturus," I began. "Remember me?"

Mengsk's ugly face appeared on a fleshy screen in front of me. "Commander. I see the zerg thought death was too good for you."

"Heh. I'm far better off now than I ever was as a Terran. Really, I should be thanking you, Arcturus, for abandoning me to the Swarm."

"Well, that's reassuring," Mengsk commented snidely. "Now why have I been brought here?"

"We need your psi emitters, Arcturus."

"Why?"

"The UED found an old Confederate device. A psi disruptor. It's been preventing us from controlling our minions. With the help of your psi emitters, we can gather up enough Zerg to destroy the disrupter and confront the UED."

"And what are you offering me in return?" Mengsk sneered.

"Besides your life, you mean? Don't forget the UED would have executed you if we hadn't... let's say 'convinced'… the Protoss to help you. But I'll tell you what. Help us destroy the disrupter, and we'll help you retake Korhal from the UED."

A greedy look appeared in Mengsk's eye. "Hmm... a tempting offer. What assurances do I have of you fulfilling your end of the bargain?"

"None, of course. But refuse, and you won't be useful to us any longer." I let the implicit threat hang in the air a moment. "You won't get a better offer than this."

Mengsk was silent a moment. Perhaps he was wondering if he could get his ship into warp travel before I could attack and cripple it. He couldn't. Finally, he sighed. "I see that you're still a persuasive speaker. All right, Commander. I'll lend you some emitters, but this had better be worth it."

…

A few hours later, Mengsk and I returned to Tarsonis, and I set about gathering as much Zerg as I could with the emitter he lent me. I found I could channel my psionic commands through the emitter, using it as a conduit to amplify the strength of my telepathy, allowing my orders to travel over most of the planet despite the interference of the disruptor. I also found that Kerrigan had done an excellent job of stemming the damage, and between her psionic power and the emitter we soon had control over most of the zerg on Tarsonis again.

Kerrigan and I were in the Leviathan, discussing what to do next, given that we still didn't know where the psi disruptor was now located, when an Abathur slithered over to us.

"Evolution completed," he announced.

I turned to regard him. "Oh? Have you solved the reproduction problem?"

"Negative. Still evaluating. However, have created voice attached to leviathan. Inspired by Terran adjutant, but superior. Species name: Izsha. Will show."

I detected Abathur sending some sort of signal to the leviathan, and then before my eyes a tentacle emerged from the fleshy ceiling. No, not a tentacle - it had a face.

"Cerebrate," said the face-tentacle thing in a high buzzing voice. "It is a pleasure to meet to you. And you, my queen," she added, turning to Kerrigan. "My name is Izsha."

"Interesting," I said, walking around the tentacle. Now that I looked more closely, I saw it had a humanlike torso as well as a humanlike face, complete with little bony arms, currently pressed up against its chest. What was more interesting was that, instead of hair, it had giant tendrils flowing down from the top of its head. As I watched, it moved the tendrils around, giving the impression that they served as additional, more useful arms. A very odd creature.

"What can you do?" asked Kerrigan, taking the words out of my mouth.

"I am unsure. I am still learning," answered the creature in her voice that was somehow both feminine and buglike.

Abathur cut in. "Senses swarm. Stores information. Disseminates information."

"Ah, so she can inform us of what is happening with the Zerg, even when we are not concentrating on them?" I asked.

"Correct," Abathur answered.

"Handy," I observed. "But I don't see how that will help us with our current predicament."

"I will serve in any way–" Izsha began to reply, before she interrupted herself. "Warp signature detected. An overlord is returning."

"What?" I asked, confused. "Why would–" and then I realized. "It must be Duran!"

…

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Duran stood in front of us once again. What was more, he was dragging a smartly-dressed but also bleeding and unconscious human.

"Who is this?" I asked, surprised.

"This, my friends, is the UED vice admiral, second-in-command of the UED fleet, Alexei Stukov." Duran answered proudly. "He is the one you have to blame for the activation of the psi disruptor."

"What happened?" Kerrigan demanded.

"Patience," Duran replied. "I will tell all. When I abandoned the fight on Aiur to allow your brood through, Stukov immediately warped to where his forces had secretly reconstructed the psi disruptor. He had disagreed with the plan to destroy it that I had proposed, you see, and gone behind the Admiral's back in preserving it. I was able to convince the Admiral that he must be a traitor, and the fool assigned me to track Stukov down and kill him. I did this gladly, shooting him in the heart of the psi disruptor, and then I attempted to overload the installation's reactor to cause it to explode. It seems the Admiral had a change of heart, however: his men shut down the reactor in time. It appeared he no longer trusted me, so I doubled back, grabbed Stukov's body, and left. I figured the vice admiral might be useful to you. Perhaps he knows secrets about how to take down the UED and their psi disruptor."

"It seems we have much to thank you for, then," I responded. I looked again at the bleeding man. He didn't seem to be breathing. "But if Stukov is dead, what use will he be?"

Abathur had slithered over to the body and begun inspecting him. Now he spoke. "Brain preserved. Most tissues intact. Can reanimate through infestation."

"Wait, wait, wait," I protested. "Infestation can reanimate the dead?"

"Infestation can reanimate the mostly dead." Abathur corrected.

I blinked. "Alright Miracle Max, then get to work infesting him. We'll see what help he can offer."

Abathur peered at me through his four green eyes. "Name: Abathur."

I sighed. "I know. It's a joke. There's this classic movie I saw as a kid… nevermind. Get to work."

Abathur bowed. "I obey."

"Now, where is the psi disruptor located?" I asked a smiling Duran.

"On the planet Braxis, where the UED invasion began."

"Then we know our next target." I declared.


	15. Reign of Fire

While the Abathurs got to work infesting the vice admiral, I ordered the Leviathan to warp to Braxis. The moment we exited warp space I was crushed under the weight of a planet-sized rock. Well, that's what it felt like, at least. It took a moment to adjust to the sensation enough to understand what was happening. The signal of the psi disruptor was much stronger here. Instead of sending telepathic commands being like shouting through water, here it was like shouting through the abyssal depths of an ocean. Immense mental pressure forced my telepathic probes to mostly stay inside my skull. It was all I could do just to stop the Leviathan from wandering away.

"Cerebrate," Izsha's voice spoke urgently beside me. "Zerg on the Leviathan are going feral. Some have begun fighting amongst themselves."

"Great," I growled. "See if you can detect the source of the signal, Izsha. We need to destroy that device now!"

"Psi disruptor located in Braxis' northern hemisphere. Transmitting coordinates to responding overlords."

"Do your best to keep control up here," Kerrigan commanded, already rushing forward. "I'll take the emitter and what forces I can to destroy that device."

"Wait, Kerrigan…" I began, worried that without the emitter I wouldn't be able to control the Leviathan anymore.

As the membrane opened to allow Kerrigan to pass, I caught sight of a new figure, walking down the hallway towards us.

Kerrigan stopped. "Stukov? How?"

The figure stopped when he reached us. He didn't have an exoskeleton like Kerrigan or I. He sported the vice admiral's dignified clothing over mostly human skin, though that skin was pockmarked and glowing in places. But on a shoulder, a leg, a hand, tentacles writhed.

An Abathur was following close behind him. "Infestation complete," he announced when he reached us.

"What? He doesn't look like… and so fast," I stuttered, at a loss for words.

"Infestation accelerated," Abathur declared. "Many Abathurs operating in unison, utilizing new design. Weaker, but faster, and avoids possible fatal complications from full infestation."

I blinked. "Well… good work then."

"We're wasting time," Kerrigan spoke impatiently. "Do you have anything useful to say, Stukov, or shall I be on my way?"

"The psi disruptor has an external power generator, in additional to the internal reactor," Stukov said in a deep reverberating voice. "Destroy the power generator, and the signal will weaken."

"Understood," Kerrigan announced, and then she departed.

"Wait, Kerrigan, without the emitter…" I called after her, but it was too late.

Oh well, I thought. I'll just have to retreat once Kerrigan leaves until I sense she has succeeded.

"Pardon me," I said to Stukov and Abathur. "I must focus on retaining control of our zerg."

"Of course," Stukov nodded.

I walked to Izsha. "Amplify my psionic signal through the Leviathan as best you can," I commanded.

She nodded, her hair-tentacles bouncing briefly, and I extended my psionic control, fighting against the pressure. Like lifting a hundred-pound weight, the exertion quickly drained my energy, but I was able to reassert control over our forces in the Leviathan, however briefly. I sensed as Kerrigan took some minions and launched droppods and overlords at the disruptor's location. She followed behind them herself, taking with her a drone carrying the psi emitter. When they left the Leviathan, I was no longer able to expend the strength necessary to sense them. At that point, I made my decision. "Retreat," I commanded the Leviathan, and it warped back to Tarsonis.

When we came out of warp, I breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure had abated. The signal still reached us, but it was weaker here. I could retain control of my forces while focusing on something else.

"Now then, Stukov," I said, turning to the tentacled man who still stood smartly at attention before me. Abathur had apparently returned to the evolution pit. "While we await Kerrigan's success, I have many questions to ask you."

"I will answer all I can," he replied.

"First, tell me about your loyalties. Are you loyal to the Zerg now?"

"I am Zerg now," Stukov corrected. "I know what that means. There is no longer any place for me amongst the Terrans."

"Do you resent our infesting you?"

"You saved my life. Well, mostly. This is a pale shadow of a life, but it is better than death. I do not resent it."

"Good, good," I commented. "I'll see if I can't get Abathur to fully infest you like Kerrigan and I instead of leaving you as a tentacled mess. Full infestation is even better than Terran life, I believe."

"Such a change would be welcome. Although, if you could make me look entirely uninfested like that traitor Duran, that would be preferable."

"Yes… do you resent Duran?"

"He took my life from me. I do. Ally of yours or not, I will see him dead eventually."

I furrowed my brow. "Hmm… the hive mind is supposed to prevent hostile feelings between its members."

"Perhaps Duran is not as much a part of the hive mind as you think," Stukov commented wryly. "He betrayed the Dominion. He betrayed us. He'll betray you too."

"I confess I don't trust him as much as I would like to," I admitted. "If you would keep an eye on him for me, that would be welcome."

"Gladly."

I felt something, then, as though I had emerged from an ocean gasping for breath in cool misty air. Suddenly, I felt free, my telepathic senses returned.

"Kerrigan must have successfully destroyed the power generator to the psi disruptor." Stukov commented.

I smiled. "Then let us return to Braxis and finish the job."

…

Though the signal was weaker now, it was still strong enough that, once I had launched the rest of our forces at Braxis, I had to channel my commands through the psi emitter on the ground in order for my minions to hear them. But I felt confident enough in my control that I brought the Leviathan in close. The massive creature entered the icy atmosphere, soaring around the giant machine. The UED garrison swiftly scrambled wraiths and a few battlecruisers to respond to the threat, but I deployed our scourge and mutalisks. The Leviathan itself was also armed with massive spear-tipped tentacles that began ripping through the UED fleet. It was a pleasure to watch the ships explode, falling to pieces before the Leviathan's strafing attacks. The only thing I was afraid of was the Terran ground-to-air missile turrets, but I had the Leviathian stay out of their range.

Then I launched more droppods, including one with me in it. I wasn't about to let Kerrigan have all the fun. She met me on the ground, and together with our army we rushed at the UED's defensive line. Many zerglings fell before we were able to get close enough to the siege tanks for Kerrigan to wreak havoc with sharp claws and psionic storms. I followed after, flinging acid spit and telepathically commanding key enemies to turn on their allies. It was a brutal battle, and even with both our armies and ourselves I wondered if we'd be able to break through the UED's defensive line.

But we had a secret weapon. Kerrigan had found something on the planet. A special strain of Ultralisk the original Abathur had evolved for the Overmind, like he had evolved Daggoth's Hunter Killers: a Torrasque. Apparently, only a few Torrasques had ever been morphed, for they were prohibitively expensive. However, they were also extremely powerful, and a feral one, somehow lost on the planet, had responded to the psi emitters' call. Nothing the Terrans fired at it could harm it. Bullets, grenades, tank shells, missiles… almost everything bounced off its diamond-hard exoskeleton. A few projectiles were lucky enough to break off small chinks, but it would take multiple nukes to bring the beast down quickly.

By following the path carved by the Torrasque's destructive rampage, we made short work of the UED's fortifications. When the broken bodies of hundreds of marines and medics lay before us and resistance had all but been eradicated, I ordered the razing of the psi disruptor itself. My forces flooded the facility, ripping apart steel and circuitry. When the destruction was nearly complete, the reactor began to overload. I ordered everyone retreat back to the Leviathan, and a few minutes later, back in my place at the head of the Leviathan, I watched smiling as the psi disruptor erupted in a fiery nuclear explosion.

All was quiet in the hive mind again. After so long struggling to be heard, telepathic communication was now effortless. I felt like my signals could reach the other side of the galaxy! It was wonderful to finally be free of that wretched disruptor.

…

Later, I called our allies to meet together in orbit over Tarsonis to discuss our next step.

"We destroyed the disruptor quickly, but not quickly enough," Stukov began. "I've intercepted UED radio transmissions confirming that Gerard, the admiral, already used it to assault and capture the overmind. They'll have taken control of its swarm. We can expect to face zerg when next we fight my former comrades."

I sighed. "Terrans controlling Zerg is just so backwards. The more highly evolved should control the less highly evolved."

Abathur nodded approvingly, but Kerrigan scoffed. "It doesn't matter. A few feral zerg won't save them from my wrath."

"Zerg or no," Mengsk broke in, his face on the Leviathan's video screen twisted in an ugly sneer. "We had a deal. The time has come to retake Korhal from these interlopers!"

"Indeed," I agreed, suppressing a smile at the thought of what would happen to Mengsk afterwards. "Izsha, how are our forces looking?"

"Many of our zerg died when they fought amongst themselves because of the psi disruptor," Ishza reported. "The broodmothers have been working to replace them, but they are running out of resources. We'll need to mine many more minerals to build up enough forces to invade Korhal."

"I see," I answered. "It'll take quite a while to mine enough from Tarsonis. Does anyone have any idea how we can get rich quick?"

"The Kel-Morian combine is famous for their resource stockpiles," Kerrigan replied. "Let's steal from them."

"Bold," Duran observed. "The Kel-Morians are one of the three major Terran powers in the Koprulu sector. Bypassing their defenses won't be easy."

"It will be once we have control of their defenders," I replied, a plan beginning to take shape.

"Do you have a plan?" Kerrigan asked.

"Yes. Abathur," I said, turning to regard him, "can you and your clones make more of those neural parasites we used on the Matriarch, but adapted to Terran physiology?"

"Affirmative," Abathur replied.

"Then get to it," I ordered.

As Abathur bowed and slithered away, Duran broke in. "What, exactly, is your plan?"

My only response was to smile.


	16. The Liberation of Korhal

A few days later, Abathur had finished creating the mind-affecting parasites, and I had briefed Kerrigan and Duran on their role in my plan. The two former ghosts flew off in stolen dropships and made their way onto the Morian space platforms, cloaked. While the crew investigated the seemingly empty dropships, Kerrigan and Duran stalked through the station, disabled any equipment that could detect cloaking signatures, and implanted commanding officers with parasites.

When they reported their success, I warped the Leviathan in and deployed my forces.

Confusion ran rampant through the space stations as commanding officers gave orders to retreat and stand down, even as mutalisks tore through automated defenses and overlords full of zerglings unloaded their cargo onto the platforms. Those zerglings than rounded up every Terran that didn't shoot at them, killing those who did, and forced them to board the overlords, where Abathurs waited to infest them.

Small groups resisted, but thanks to the careful parasite deployment, there was never the coordinated response that the Morians would have needed in order to actually beat us back. In the end, I infested them all, with minimal losses.

"So far, so good," I thought to myself, but I knew the biggest challenge was yet to come.

I landed my forces on the ground of Moria, in a particularly resource-rich region. Six different well-defended mining companies worked in the area. We'd been unable to prevent communications from reaching the surface, so they knew of our approach. Still, we were able to tear through one company's mine and establish a base before they could muster an armed response. The rest of the companies wouldn't be as easy.

I sent Kerrigan and Duran on cloaked scouting missions to harass and distract the enemy forces, and look for more officers to infect. They found the task difficult, as the combine had peppered their mines with missile turrets and employed many science vessels with instruments capable of detecting cloaked units. Still, Kerrigan and Duran were distracting enough that by the time the other companies were able to attack my new base in force, I was ready for them.

Queens infected siege tanks with broodlings, destroying them and causing nearby tanks to fire on the tiny broodlings instead of more useful targets. Ultralisks held the line, while zerglings and hydralisks swarmed the enemy.

I lost many minions. Too many to risk moving out for a counterattack.

But I'd won the skirmish, and I built up my forces again. The Zerg could morph an army out of larvae much faster than the Terrans could train an army out of miners. When I felt I had enough, I sent them out.

They destroyed one of the mining companies, infesting every Terran civilian they came across, as well as their entire command center. I lost most of my army in the attack, so I had to retreat and build up again.

This was proving to be a costly war. Lucky for me, I was sitting right on top of what was probably the largest resource cache in the sector. I had far more drones harvesting than I'd ever seen in a single hive cluster before. Despite our losses, my economy was booming, and my armies easily replaced.

I sent army after army at the Kel-Morian combine, infecting key personnel with parasites when possible. It was slow going, but my stream of forces never let up, and eventually we overwhelmed all their defenses, paving the way for the Abathurs to come in and infest everyone.

With no defenders remaining in the area, we continued mining. Finally, Izsha announced that we had enough minerals stockpiled to assault Korhal.

"There's still so many resources here, though," I said thoughtfully from my normal place in the head of the Leviathan. "Doesn't seem right to just pack up and leave it all."

"Leave a force here, then," Kerrigan replied. "We can afford it now."

"True…" I said. "And that way we can give the newly infested a chance to adjust, like the ones on Mar Sara. Our force can guard them, and maybe push out to infest the rest of the planet. We'll need a good strategist to stay here to oversee them, however."

"I would be willing to stay here, if it aids the Swarm," offered Stukov.

"No, I need your insight into the UED for the battles ahead," I replied. "Ideally, we would just leave the hive cluster in the hands - er, claws - of a broodmother, but I'm not sure that they're cunning enough for that. Abathur?"

I looked at the Abathur representative in the council room. "Will evolve design," he replied matter-of-factly. "Create subspecies of one. Specialized for cunning independent control. Taught Cerebrate's tactics. Designation: Zagara."

"That sounds perfect, Abathur," I nodded at him. "Make it so."

Abathur bowed and slithered off.

"In the meantime," I announced to the other Zerg leaders, "The rest of us must prepare for the invasion of Korhal. Soon, we'll send more Zerg at the UED than have ever existed before in the history of the universe."

…

We stayed on Moria for a week or so, morphing more and more Zerg. The Abathurs had to create four more Leviathans just to hold them all. When the Abathurs completed Zagara's evolution, I spoke with her, and was satisfied that she would be able to safeguard our mining operations and infest the rest of the planet. She was eager to prove herself, so I let her get to it, and the rest of us departed for Korhal with the bulk of the swarm.

Our Leviathans and Mengsk's battlecruiser warped in near Korhal, but not so near that the UED fleet would sense us.

"Mengsk is hailing us," Izsha informed us.

"Open a channel," I replied.

His ugly sneering face appeared on the organic screen. "Let's waste no time!" he shouted. "Every moment we sit here means that the UED's defenses will be that much stronger! And I want nothing to stand between us and the retaking of my planet!"

Kerrigan replied before I could, smiling sinisterly. "You're right, Arcturus. The time to strike the UED is now. But remember that we're up against one of the most heavily defended planets in the sector. Laying siege to Korhal won't be easy."

"Indeed," Stukov confirmed. "Not only does the UED control a substantial standing army, but they will have Zerg reinforcements as well."

"Do you have a plan, Cerebrate?" Duran asked unconcernedly.

I nodded and smiled. "Launch enough drop pods to blot out the sun."

"Brute forcing this one, huh?" Kerrigan asked. "Should be fun."

"Then commence the damn attack!" Mengsk snarled.

I nodded. "Before the sun next rises, Korhal will be yours once more. Warp us into position, Izsha."

"As you command."

The Leviathans warped the remaining distance into orbit and began to barrage the planet with drop pods full of Zerg. I directed the majority of the drop pods to the capital city of Augustgrad, where the resistance would be heaviest, and I watched with pride as skyscrapers and bunkers crumbled under the orbital onslaught. Meanwhile, the sizable UED fleet engaged the Leviathans the moment they appeared, so the Leviathans launched swarms of mutalisks and scourge to fight the space battle.

There was no doubt that the UED was powerful. But even 100 battlecruisers were no match for 10,000 scourge. Even a million infantry platoons, supplemented with thousands of Zerg from their pet overmind, were no match for literally billions of zerglings and hydralisks.

It was a brutal fight, one that raged for over a day. There were just so many combatants involved, so many more than I'd ever seen in a single battle before. Though I tried to save as many Terrans as possible for infestation, millions lost their lives before the dust settled, taking billions of my Zerg with them. If every destroyed army unit on both sides were converted back to the cost in minerals it took to construct them, you'd have over a trillion minerals lost, enough to make every soul on an entire planet live like a king. Instead, that money bought flesh and metal currently lying twisted and broken throughout the cities and wastelands of Korhal.

Finally, after enduring over 24 hours of my onslaught, the few surviving UED forces began to retreat. Planet-side forces evacuated to their remaining spaceships, and warped away. Knowing they were too weak to pose a serious threat again, I let them go. The UED was defeated.


	17. True Colors

Though over 24 hours had passed since the beginning of the battle, I had kept my promise to Mengsk. The sun hadn't risen on Korhal since the beginning of the battle. At least not visibly. The atmosphere was too choked with smoke, ash, and the flesh of my swarm's fliers for much light to travel through.

When the battle finished, I opened a channel to Mengsk, Kerrigan at my side. "The UED's defenses are broken," I announced to him.

Kerrigan smiled. "Arcturus, you may take possession of this world with our blessings."

Mengsk sneered, as usual. "Don't be snide, Kerrigan. This was part of the deal, remember? I've earned this... I am Emperor of the Dominion again."

Kerrigan's smile acquired a more sinister shape. "I hope you make the most of your reign..." she replied, before ending the video call.

I watched from the Leviathan as Mengsk promptly flew his battlecruiser to Augustgrad and retook his ruined palace. Wasting no time, he had some lackeys film him as he delivered an inspiring speech about the Dominion's hardwon victory over foreign invaders, broadcasting the video to the rest of the Terran planets.

Mengsk's rhetoric and lies amused me. He tried to cast the victory as his own and assure the people of his continued strength, even as he stood in a ruined palace in a destroyed city surrounded by Zerg.

Kerrigan scoffed. "The fool is taking credit for our victory."

"Ah, it doesn't matter," I replied, chuckling and placing a hand soothingly on Kerrigan's shoulder. "He'll be dead by tomorrow."

She didn't shake it off. She turned to me. "That's what I like to hear. How much time will we give him?"

"We'll take a few hours to let our forces recover and regroup, and let him convince himself of his power and invincibility again, before we take it all away."

Kerrigan grinned, baring vicious rows of jagged teeth.

…

A few hours later, as Mengsk's forces were in the midst of reconstructing his ruined capital city, I gave the order. Millions of Zerg flooded into Augustgrad, infesting every unarmed Terran they encountered and destroying every armed one. I couldn't help but smile as I was reminded of how the Zerg surprised us by flooding our base at New Gettysburg after Mengsk betrayed us. Now he was getting a taste of his own medicine. Poetic justice.

The battle was incredibly easy, especially compared to the hard-fought battle of a few hours earlier. The Terrans had been caught entirely by surprise and had been allowed very little time to construct even rudimentary defenses. If there had been another group I'd needed to destroy by surprise as well as Mengsk's, the task might have been more difficult, but as it was, the majority of Mengsk's forces had fallen before us before they even understood what was happening.

Kerrigan and I both joined the battle on the ground, eager to see Mengsk's face for ourselves when he realized our betrayal. We fought our way to the damaged imperial palace where he had made his speech. A ramshackle defensive line of siege tanks and bunkers had been swiftly erected to guard it. Before I ordered our forces forward to tear through it, Kerrigan received a transmission on her old ghost radio channel.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't little Kerrigan," Duke's drawling voice came through the radio channel to Kerrigan, and through the hive mind I could hear it as well. I was also able to detect the source: the signal emanated from one of the siege tanks surrounding the palace. Duke had decided to fight this battle himself. "I had a feelin' we'd be meeting each other in battle again. You've got a lot to answer for, little girl."

Kerrigan barked a laugh. "Oh, General Duke. You know, I've always wanted to have you killed. This is kind of exciting for me."

"Seconded," I interjected, producing a radio signal of my own. I had always disagreed with Mengsk's choice to adopt Duke into the fold, believing his usefulness did not outweigh the moral duty I felt justice demanded of me: to kill him for his crimes. It was the same reason I preferred to kill him rather than infest him now.

Duke growled. "Do your worst, then. You ain't takin' Edmund Duke without a fight."

Smiling in anticipation, I ordered my minions forward, while Kerrigan and I made a beeline for the siege tank commanded by Duke.

He was technically right. We didn't take him without a fight. But as his "fight" consisted of firing a handful of shells at us until we had approached close enough to tear through the tank's armored plating and rip apart the flesh of the helpless general within, I doubted that the "fight" was the noble blaze of glory that Duke had probably hoped to die in.

As his lifeless body crumpled to the ground in the ruined siegetank, a new radio signal called out to Kerrigan from deep within the damaged palace.

"Kerrigan, you murdering bitch!" Mengsk screamed. "We had a deal!"

Kerrigan shook her head and smirked. "Oh come on, Arcturus. Did you really think we'd allow you to come into power again? You practically fed us to the Zerg on Tarsonis! Did you honestly think we'd let you get away with that?"

"But the commander said you were grateful that you were infested!" Mengsk blustered.

"We are," I replied, producing my own radio signal of the appropriate tuning once more. "But you didn't leave us there because you wanted what was best for us. And a lot of good men and women weren't so lucky. Jim Raynor is dead because of you!"

"But… we took Korhal together!" Mengsk continued, ignoring my response. "Why would you help me if you were just going to betray me?"

"We liberated this planet because it was the UED's primary staging point," Kerrigan replied, "not because we were under any obligation to you. We used you to destroy the Psi Disruptor. And now that we have our brood back, you're no longer necessary for our plans."

Kerrigan looked at me, then, a bit of hesitation in her voice as she continued broadcasting over the radio. "I think we'll leave you here, Arcturus, among the ashes of your precious dominion. I'd like you to live to see us rise to power, and to always remember, in your most private moments, that it was you who turned us loose in the first place."

I stared at Kerrigan quizzically, then shook my head and spoke up. "Unfortunately, it would be foolish of us to give you another chance to build up your power. So you will just have to imagine your enduring guilt and shame, here in the remaining few moments you have before you are transformed into a broken corpse."

Kerrigan scowled at me, but finally nodded. "Prepare yourself, Arcturus."

Mengsk didn't reply again.

The rest of the defensive line had been destroyed by our army. We swarmed into the palace, then, infesting the whole place. When Kerrigan and I entered the marble-floored throne room, we saw him sitting calmly upon his golden throne. Mengsk. I'd underestimated how much I would be filled with hate upon seeing the man's smug face in person once again. Glancing at Kerrigan's rage-filled expression, it seemed she felt the same.

"I'm surprised you haven't tried to escape," I said as Kerrigan and I advanced upon the villain.

"Escape?" Mengsk scoffed. "You who were once a mere colonial magistrate, I'm afraid you've got me all wrong. I am an emperor! And if I must die, I will die like an emperor!"

Kerrigan and I continued our advance through the massive throne room. "You can never suffer enough for all the lives that you ruined, Arcturus," Kerrigan growled through bared teeth.

Mengsk shook his head as we stalked closer and closer. "I made you into a monster, Kerrigan."

"You made us all into monsters," she retorted, gesturing at the three of us.

"But unlike us," I added, "you're not the kind of monster who will live forever. Goodbye, Arcturus."

"Give my regards to hell," Kerrigan cried out.

Then, we pounced.

Spikes pierced through every part of Mengsk's body, even as acid spit dissolved his face and psionic power tore apart his limbs. The cumulative effect was a swift but excruciatingly painful death.

When Kerrigan and I had sated our bloodlust on the Terran monster's ruined corpse, we simply stood there, breathing heavily from the viciousness of our attack, for a few minutes.

Finally, Kerrigan spoke up. "It is done, Cerebrate," she declared. "Arcturus and his forces have been destroyed. Let us return to Tarsonis to rest. For the first time since my transfiguration I weary of the slaughter."

I looked at her and nodded, knowing exactly how she felt.

…

With Mengsk dead, the psi disruptor destroyed, UED headquarters on Korhal decimated, and the Protoss matriarch under our control, there was really only one threat left: the UED's pet overmind. Dealing with that threat didn't seem quite so urgent, so Kerrigan and I allowed ourselves a little break, spending a few days in leisurely reflection on Tarsonis.

The murder of Mengsk had been eye-opening for the both of us. I realized that the infestation had corrupted my emotions more than I had thought. As a Terran, I would never have even contemplated the prospect of repeatedly spearing an unarmed enemy's body or dousing him in toxic chemicals that would melt his face. And yet, in the heat of the moment, that is what I had done. After admonishing Kerrigan for her bloodlust on Char not too long ago. Perhaps there was a significant downside to infestation I was overlooking.

While my thoughts were consumed with such matters, I think Kerrigan was reassessing her life goals. Since her first emergence into the Swarm, she had been consumed with vengeance: against Mengsk, Duke, Tassadar, Zeratul, and so on. I suspected that was why she had expressed no desire to attack Duke's battlecruiser back when she first emerged, and why she had attempted to let Mengsk live: she wasn't sure what she'd do with herself when she actually had what she wanted, so she was trying to drag out her vengeance as long as possible. I guessed that if and when we captured Zeratul, as the last of those whom she perceived as personally slighting her, she would want to let him live as well.

I hoped Kerrigan would find some other goal to live for. She seemed content to help me with my goals for now, but she wasn't truly interested in infesting all the Terrans. Without a more stable objective, I wasn't sure what she would do.

We weren't left alone with our thoughts for long, however. Soon, the threat which we had elected to ignore came to us.


	18. Fury of the Swarm

Duran was the first to warn us, for he had remained on board the Leviathan. "My Queen. Cerebrate," he addressed us. "Izsha is reporting that our scouts have just discovered a massive wave of Zerg in high orbit. Hundreds of Zerg have landed upon Tarsonis and are even now approaching your location! A number of our outposts are already under attack by the renegade Swarm!"

I leapt into the air from the place in New Gettysburg where I had been meditating, and soared over the ruins of Tarsonis towards the main hive cluster where Kerrigan was.

Kerrigan's telepathic voice entered my consciousness. "So, the UED is testing out their control of their pet Overmind. I had hoped to lay low after we razed Korhal, but it seems the UED is intent on forcing our hand."

"Rally our spacefaring forces, Duran," I commanded telepathically. "Destroy the renegade zerg in orbit. Kerrigan and I will take care of the zerg already on the planet's surface."

"It will be done," Duran replied smartly, and I felt the Leviathan, thousands of miles above me, begin to move.

By the time I reached our main hive cluster, conferred with Kerrigan, and entered the hivemind sac within the hatchery, four of our nearby outposts were already nearly eradicated by the renegade zerg. It was too late for me to save anything, so I ignored the burning outposts and focused on building up the defenses of the main hive cluster.

My more reflective state of mind was a bit of an obstacle at first. It had been a long time since I was last in the hivemind chamber. The Leviathan's telepathic equipment was superior, and I preferred it, but there was something comforting about the lack of personal sensations that accompanied immersion in the goop of the sac. Made it easier to concentrate on my minion's senses when I couldn't see or hear anything myself.

I was broken out of my reflections by Duran's voice. "My Queen. Cerebrate. Izsha has located a small Terran facility towards the rear of the Renegade Zerg's landing zone. There appears to be a number of UED scientists working within the compound, but we are unable to determine the purpose of their presence..."

Stukov's voice cut in. He had also elected to remain on the Leviathan. "I know what they're up to. The UED's control of the Overmind is tenuous. Tarsonis is too remote for them to maintain direct control over their brood, so they've sent these scientists to coordinate their attack."

I smiled. "Well, then, we have an easy way to cripple them. We just need to reach the Terran facility. When the scientists are infested, their zerg will turn feral, and can be finished off easily."

"I will fight my way to the compound myself!" Kerrigan declared.

"Not this time, Kerrigan," I replied. "I have a better plan. If you lead a ground assault we'll have to fight our way through nearly every zerg the UED brought. And they'll have too many science vessels and other detectors for you to sneak in cloaked. This time, we'll morph a purely aerial army, one capable of flying over their defenses directly to the Terran installation."

"Fine," Kerrigan answered sullenly. "I suppose your reasons are sound."

"They will have valkyries guarding the base to prevent aerial assault," Stukov spoke up. "Those ships are specially designed to shred mutalisks and scourge. How will you overcome them?"

Before I could reply, an Abathur broke in to the telepathic conversation. "Suggestion: utilize newly designed species. Designation: Devourer."

"You've evolved a new zerg unit?" I asked Abathur, surprised.

"Affirmative," Abathur replied. "Devourers mutate from mutalisks. Designed for aerial combat. Launch strongly acidic projectiles from long range."

"Excellent! I'll try them out, Abathur. They should be just what we need to counter the valkyries."

Abathur did not reply, likely considering further conversation unnecessary. Abathur seemed to really dislike speaking words he considered superfluous. An extension of his philosophy concerning superfluous biological structures in the creatures he evolved, I was sure.

Regardless, I had my plan. Over the next few hours, I fended off multiple incursions by the renegade swarm into my base, even as I built up an aerial army of mutalisks, guardians,and devourers. I elected to ignore scourge, as devourers would be the more useful anti-air unit for surviving long enough against the enemy ground-to-air defenses to even reach the enemy starships.

When I had several full control groups of mutalisks, guardians, and devourers, I attacked. My guardians carved a path through defenses, launching their biological bombs from just outside the range of the enemy spore colonies and missile turrets. Mutalisks cleaned up any enemy hydralisks or other miscellaneous obstacles, while the devourers mostly waited patiently, save for attacking the occasional enemy mutalisk, until we'd successfully cut a narrow path to the science installation. Once the valkyries were in range, my devourers tore them apart. When all the valkyries lay scattered in chunks of broken metal, I moved my mutalisks and guardians in, and they ripped apart the Terran facility, destroying all their scientific equipment.

Soon, I felt the hostile telepathic signatures of the enemy zerg turn feral. Success!

With the UED's control over their zerg disrupted, it was a simple manner to spread the remainder of my forces over the surface of Tarsonis, reclaiming all the land that the UED had conquered and infesting any surviving scientists. The battle was won.

…

The next task was to destroy the overmind, to prevent the UED from attempting an attack like that again. I returned to the Leviathan and called a meeting with all the Zerg leaders.

"We need to strategize," I began. "Killing the overmind will likely prove more difficult than taking Korhal. The overmind will be telepathically assaulting any zerg we throw at Char. If we try to swarm them again, I doubt we'd be able to retain control of all our forces. And I don't want to gift the UED's pet overmind more minions."

"Swarming Char would be useless anyway," Kerrigan spoke up first. "Remember Zasz? Only dark templar energies will be able to permanently harm the overmind."

"Can we get the Protoss to fight this battle for us, then?" asked Duran. "Their Matriarch is still infested, yes?"

"Yes," I confirmed. From the Leviathan I could feel the sensations of the parasite within the Matriarch all the way from Shakuras. "But her control over the Protoss is not absolute. They're already suspicious of her from her command to help Mengsk, not to mention her earlier commands to work with Kerrigan. If we just make her instruct the dark templar to assault the overmind, there is a real chance they'll revolt and discover the parasite, and then we will have no means of getting the dark templar to work with us whatsoever. I'd rather take a subtler tactic."

"A difficult situation," Stukov agreed. "I am unsure of your exact capabilities. Could you implant more leading Protoss with parasites? Perhaps where one voice would be silenced, many would be heeded."

I shook my head. "The Protoss would never let us get close enough, and they have too many observers to try to sneak in. Unless…" I turned to Abathur. "Could you induce the parasite already within the Matriarch to reproduce, and implant its children into new hosts?"

"Negative," Abathur replied, shaking his bulbous head. "Parasite beyond reach. Could iterate design. Create parasite with described capability. However, would require new means of deployment."

"That's out, then," I said, disappointed. "Even if we implanted some unguarded Protoss colonial with the new parasite, I seriously doubt it would be able to get to the Protoss leadership undetected."

Kerrigan nodded and stared into space, deep in thought. Then she turned to me. "There are two things we need to accomplish. First, we need to provide a motivation for the dark templar to attack the overmind, a stronger motivation than "because the Matriarch said so." Second, we need to prevent them from having access to the Matriarch, so they can't discover her infestation. Let's accomplish both objectives simultaneously. Let's kidnap the Matriarch."

I blinked. "Kidnap the Matriarch? How would that help?"

"Because," Kerrigan answered smiling, "Then they would have a stronger motivation to do as we say. They would want their Matriarch back. Their honor-" Kerrigan's contemptuous tone of voice made it clear what she thought of their honor- "will demand they do not leave their leader in our clutches. They will pay her ransom, especially if the Matriarch herself commands them to. And while she is in our custody, the Protoss won't be able to inspect her and possibly discover her infestation."

I nodded along as Kerrigan talked. "Yes, that could work. Our initial invasion would anger the Protoss, of course, but it is not as though we're on good terms with them at the moment. Can anyone foresee any problems with this plan?"

Stukov shook his head. Duran spoke up, "I can think of none better, but we should investigate the feasibility of this plan. Do we know how well defended the Matriarch is?"

"Izsha?" I asked, looking towards the giant tentacle woman hanging from the ceiling.

"The telepathic signal of the Matriarch's parasite locates her in the Shakuran city of Talematros. Previous scouting reports indicate that Talematros is built upon a large mesa that is nearly impregnable to ground attack. Additionally, a large pylon field built upon the mesa fuels and powers the city, generating a massive electromagnetic field above the city that interferes with the guidance systems of our aerial units, preventing them from maneuvering."

"Well defended by ground and air, then." I pursed my scaly lips, thinking. "Even if we could crash-land a small force onto the mesa, we wouldn't be able to fly the Matriarch out."

"Unless we destroyed the pylon field first," Duran interjected. "The resulting power loss would also cause mass confusion, the perfect diversion from our kidnapping attempt."

"True," I answered excitedly. "That could work! We launch a force onto Talematros' mesa via droppod, have them destroy the pylon field before the Protoss fully understand what's happening, kidnap the Matriarch while everything's unpowered, then convince the dark templar to destroy the enslaved overmind in exchange for the return of the Matriarch."

"As good a plan as any," Kerrigan said.

"Then let's make it happen!" I smiled.


	19. To Slay the Beast

Duran volunteered to oversee the operation. Kerrigan was willing to join, but since there was no means of escape from the mesa unless the operation succeeded in disabling the pylon field, I wasn't willing to risk her. Duran entered a drop pod on his own, therefore, as did hundreds of zerg minions. When they were fully prepared, I gave the order, and the Leviathan warped into orbit around Shakuras, just above Talematros, and launched the readied pods.

They crashed into the mesa and immediately set about clearing out the nearby Protoss and setting up a base. Conveniently, overlords could avoid the electromagnetic interference from the pylon field if they hovered close enough to the ground, at least sufficiently for basic movement. Duran was therefore able to retain control of all our forces.

My own control over the operation was limited because of the pylon field interfering with my signals, but Duran had things well in hand. After beating off disorganized initial Protoss counterattacks, he led our forces on a rampage through the city, destroying defenses and civilians alike. If the Protoss had been better prepared, it might have been a difficult battle, especially if the Protoss fleet received word of the attack and warped to Talemetros. Thankfully, we caught them completely by surprise, and Duran's blitzkrieg succeeded in disrupting the pylon field before the Protoss could respond in true force. That's not to say it was a cakewalk - nearly every minion that crashed on the mesa was killed by the time the pylon field was destroyed.

But the mission was a success, and while all the Protoss buildings were powerless, Duran snuck into Talematros' palace and ordered the Matriarch to follow him. With the parasite inside her compelling obedience, it proved a simple task to escape with her to a waiting overlord transport, now once again capable of flying up into orbit to our Leviathan. As soon as Duran and the Matriarch were onboard, we warped away from Shakuras, abandoning what few Zerg minions had survived on the mesa to be cleaned up by the Protoss.

…

The Leviathan warped to Char's system, as close to the infested planet as I thought was safe, given the swarms of mutalisks and scourge the UED's pet overlord had launched into its atmosphere.

"And now we wait," I announced to the gathered zerg leaders, including the dark templar Matriarch. "Izsha, how long until the Protoss figure out what happened and trace us to Char?"

"Estimation: one hour."

I dismissed the leaders for the hour, save for the Matriarch, whom I interviewed at length concerning Protoss culture and biology, and Abathur, whom I wanted to hear the Matriarch's words. I needed to know my enemy. In particular, I wanted to know if the Protoss could be infested. The Protoss were already immortal if they didn't meet a violent end, so infestation wouldn't benefit them in that respect, but if they could be made to enter the hivemind, then I could ensure permanent peace between the Protoss and my future utopia of infested Terrans.

According to the Matriarch, and verified by Abathur once he'd sampled the Protoss leader's DNA, living Protoss could not be infested. However, with a large enough harvest of Protoss tissue, Protoss DNA could be assimilated into the Swarm, allowing for the creation of new hybrid creatures that were Zerg with Protoss DNA. Indeed, such assimilation had been the old Overmind's ultimate goal.

I didn't want to genocide one species and create a new one, though. I wanted to change the current species, make them friendlier. Unfortunately, the hour-long interview revealed that such a feat was impossible, at least without somehow infecting every Protoss with parasites like the Matriarch. And that would take away their free will, making them effectively additional zerglings. Not much better than genociding them.

Oh well. I would find another solution. Precisely one hour later, the other leaders had rejoined me, and Izsha made an announcement: "We are receiving a transmission from an unidentified Protoss carrier."

Kerrigan smiled. "That's what I love about the Protoss. They're so punctual."

I looked at her oddly. If the Protoss had exhibited a pattern of punctuality in the past, I hadn't noticed it. It wasn't important enough to warrant comment, however. "Connect us, Izsha," I ordered.

Zeratul's face appeared on the Leviathan's fleshy screen. "Kerrigan. This is Zeratul. I demand to know why you have taken our Matriarch."

Kerrigan's smile broadened. "I stole her to get to you," she answered, apparently content to take all the credit for the operation. "I need you and your brethren to kill the Overmind for me. The only way I had of assuring your cooperation was to take away that which you value most. However, I give you my word that once you've killed the Overmind, I'll allow her to return to you."

Zeratul scoffed. "As if your word held any value."

He wasn't buying it. I communicated with the parasite inside the Matriarch telepathically, putting words in her mouth.

"Zeratul, my faithful servant," spoke my Protoss puppet. "You must aid Kerrigan in this endeavor. The Overmind is our common enemy. It must be destroyed to ensure that our people will survive!"

Zeratul frowned. Well, he didn't have a mouth, but his eyes looked like a Terran's does when a Terran frowns. "You ask me to aid this vile creature?" he questioned scornfully.

"I do not ask this for myself," replied the Protoss puppet. "Nor do I ask it on Kerrigan's behalf. I ask you to do this for our people, Zeratul. Obey me as you always have... Trust in my judgement."

Zeratul paused, thinking. The tension was getting to me. Had I made the right choice in appealing to the needs of the Protoss people and the Matriarch's authority? Would he see through the deception? It was a stressful moment. I didn't know what I would do if Zeratul didn't agree.

Finally, Zeratul spoke. "Very well, Matriarch. The Overmind will die this day."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

…

I took a few hours to scout and prepare, and then the invasion of Char began. Thousands of droppods rained from the sky into the area around the fledgling overmind. I lost a few of my minions to the overmind's telepathic assaults as soon as they landed, but with the help of the psionic power of overlords and Kerrigan herself, the bulk of my army weathered the telepathic storm. I quickly set about clearing a volcanic plain of enemies and morphing a hive cluster there to act as a staging point.

Only one Protoss carrier had followed their Matriarch's trail. Perhaps her power had already been waning before our orders began casting further suspicion on her. Still, a handful of dark templar was all we really needed. As soon as the hive cluster was set up, the Protoss warped a token force of dark templar to the surface, and began helping us clear the area.

When the base was set up, I began morphing reinforcements for the initial invasion force and sending them out to battle the UED's Terran garrison and their pet Zerg. It was a pitched battle, with skirmishes lost on both sides. As their last bastion of power in the sector, the UED wasn't giving up Char without a serious fight.

Eventually, I was able to build up a massive force of guardians, together with some devourers to guard against enemy valkyries and mutalisks. I marched the flyers across the area towards the overmind, and they proceeded to slowly annihilate everything in their path. With enough guardians, whole UED battalions found themselves scattered into bloody dissolving pieces before they could get within range to fight back against my giant collection of aerial artillery.

When a path of destruction had been carved to the nascent overmind, I contacted the Protoss, and the Dark Templar followed that path. Zeratul himself approached the overmind, and together with his brethren, systematically slashed their way through the creature's now unguarded flesh.

While the Protoss butchers worked, my army guarded them from UED and zerg counterattack. Finally, the overmind sustained enough damage that it couldn't hold on any longer. Loud squishing sounds rebounded through the volcanic canyons as whole chunks of the creature separated from other chunks. Suddenly, all the enemy zerg nearby turned feral, attacking everything around them that wasn't of their own brood, including their former masters. Any surviving UED forces had to evacuate the planet. The battle was won.

While I oversaw cleanup operations of the ferals, Kerrigan's telepathic voice came to me. "I'm going down to meet with Zeratul in person. I'm taking the Matriarch with me."

I took my focus off Char and instead searched for Kerrigan's telepathic signal, finding her in the process of boarding an overlord with the Matriarch. "What?" I cried out to her. "Why? Don't underestimate him, Kerrigan. We can deal with him from the safety of the Leviathan."

If Kerrigan heard me, she showed no sign of it. I sighed. One day her pride and desire to gloat would get us all killed.

I ordered my fleet of guardians to hover nearby as Kerrigan's overlord descended to the overmind's corpse, and then resolved to wait and watch the show.

When Kerrigan disembarked, the Matriarch following meekly behind, Zeratul and his dark templar brethren strode over to meet them.

"It is done, Kerrigan," Zeratul declared, pain and anger in his eyes. "The overmind is dead, as you wished. Now I demand that you release the Matriarch at once!"

"Of course!" Kerrigan replied, smiling broadly. She turned to the Protoss puppet standing obediently behind her. "Raszagal," she said, rudely using the leader's name instead of her title, as though they were great friends. "Do you wish to return to your tribe?"

"No, my Queen," the Matriarch answered mechanically. "I wish only to serve you and remain at your side."

Zeratul's eyes flew open wide and his telepathic voice roared. "What treachery is this, Kerrigan?! This pathetic creature cannot possibly be Raszagal!" His own usage of her name suggested his relationship with her had been more than that of merely subject and ruler.

Kerrigan laughed uproariously. "I promised that I'd allow her to return to you, Zeratul," she said when she recovered enough from her amusement to choke out the words. "But it looks to me like she doesn't want to go."

 _Well, at least Kerrigan is happy_ , I thought to myself. _I much prefer happy Kerrigan to raging or brooding Kerrigan._

"You have corrupted her!" Zeratul accused angrily. "Somehow you have poisoned her thoughts! Restore her to her rightful self, or you will pay dearly for this offense, Kerrigan!"

Kerrigan chuckled and held her hands up placatingly. "All right, Zeratul, you've got me. I made your Matriarch my slave long before I joined you on Shakuras."

I hadn't watched her adventures on Shakuras, but since we didn't even know the planet existed until the Protoss evacuated there, I highly doubted she'd encountered the Matriarch long before she had joined Zeratul.

"She made the mistake of underestimating my power just like everyone else did," Kerrigan continued wistfully, as though recalling a happy memory. "And now she's paid the price. With her as my puppet I was able to eradicate the Renegade Zerg on Shakuras, and use you to kill the Overmind. As you can see, your leader belongs to me now. Not bad, huh?"

Zeratul merely glared at her. Suddenly, a swirling light appeared around him and his dark templar, as well as around the Matriarch. "We shall see, Kerrigan," he said distantly. "We shall see..." The lights grew brighter, and then suddenly winked out of existence. Zeratul, the Dark Templar, and the Matriarch had all disappeared.

Kerrigan screamed.


	20. The Reckoning

When Kerrigan rejoined me on the Leviathan, she was still fuming. "Damn Zeratul! He is a formidable adversary." Was that respect I detected amongst her anger? "Where have they run to?"

"My queen," Izsha replied, "Our scouts report that they dimensionally recalled to a plateau on the opposite side of Char. They appear to have found and regrouped with a number of Protoss survivors of your original attacks, from before the death of the first overmind. The Matriarch is being held within a stasis cell, which they seem to be preparing for a long-range dimensional recall. I suspect the Protoss will attempt to take her home to Shakuras."

I frowned. "Why not just recall to their carrier and immediately warp back to Shakuras?"

"Perhaps they fear that the Leviathan would launch scourge capable of destroying the carrier before it could warp away," Duran offered.

I frowned, doubting that was possible, but Kerrigan spoke before I could. "It doesn't matter. They're giving us an opportunity. How much time before they are ready to recall to Shakuras?"

"I estimate thirty minutes, my Queen," Izsha replied.

Kerrigan smiled cruelly. "That's all the time we need." She turned to me. "Cerebrate, mobilize all of our broods and send them to the surface of Char. I want you to bring both the Matriarch and Zeratul to me alive. Terminate the remaining Protoss with extreme prejudice."

I blinked. "But I have no such prejudice. Kerrigan, why not just let them have the Matriarch? We got what we came for. The Overmind is dead. Now, the best case scenario is they put the Matriarch in charge again and we get to control the Protoss some more, and the worst case scenario is they find and remove the parasite. There's no reason to fight them."

Kerrigan glared. "Revenge is the reason. Zeratul has humiliated me too many times. He must be made to suffer."

I sighed. "Kerrigan, we've talked about this. Revenge is a terrible reason for action."

Before Kerrigan could retort, Duran broke in. "I agree with Kerrigan. Only a single carrier of Protoss came to reclaim the Matriarch. That suggests the Protoss are no longer unified under her, but are fracturing. If the Protoss are allowed to remove the parasite within her, that could change. Destroying her and Zeratul would weaken the Protoss leadership, and we want them too weak to interfere with our plans."

I paused. "That is actually a good point. Fine, Kerrigan, we'll stop them. But we're not going to mobilize all of our broods. Even if we could recall our armies from Tarsonis and Moria, we shouldn't. But I suppose we'll have to empty the Leviathan of minions. We can't recall the half of our army we've already deployed to this side of Char in time."

"Fine. Just get it done," Kerrigan snarled. "I want to see Zeratul at my feet, writhing in pain."

I shook my head, but otherwise ignored her bloodlust. "Izsha, warp us into orbit over the Protoss position."

Izsha bobbed her tentacled head. "As you command, Cerebrate."

As soon as we exited warp space, I ordered the deployment of the remainder of our droppods. They rained down over the Protoss forces, and a slaughter ensued.

The Protoss survivors had had a long time to fortify their position while they waited for rescue, and the number of photon cannons blasting apart my zerg was staggering. The droppods that landed directly on the protoss base were incinerated, and their contents slaughtered.

Cursing, I set about regrouping the minions on the outskirts and constructing a hive cluster. I began mining operations and concentrated on defending against the Protoss counterattack.

"Gotta go fast," I thought to myself. "I have half an hour."

I built a spire and concentrated on morphing as many guardians as I could as quickly as I could. Since they outranged photon cannons, they were the obvious choice, but I'd had to leave all my pre-existing guardians on the other side of the planet.

By the time I built up a sizable force, the arbiters on Shakuras were almost ready to recall the Protoss forces. I needed to attack right away. I threw everything I had at the Protoss defenses, and I watched with pride as they crumbled under my aerial onslaught. Scattered mutalisks and devourers defended against occasional Protoss airstrikes, but if they had any significant number of starships besides their single carrier, they would have used them to escape.

I successfully bombarded my way to the Matriarch's stasis cell mere moments before the Protoss would have escaped. Kerrigan insisted on overseeing the next steps personally, and as her overlord deposited her in front of the frozen Protoss leader, Zeratul appeared beside her.

"Damn you, Kerrigan, for what I must do!" Zeratul shouted at Kerrigan with a telepathic voice full of dark fury.

Zeratul plunged his glowing psi-blade deep into the chest of the unmoving Matriarch.

My eyes flew open wide, and Kerrigan's did the same. He'd stabbed all the way to the parasite embedded in her spine. I felt its life ebb away.

The psi-blade's energies disrupted the stasis field, and the awakened Matriarch collapsed to the ground, bleeding and writhing in pain.

The Matriarch's telepathic voice came weakly and haltingly. "Thank you, Zeratul... You have freed me from her vile control at last. You have always served me with honor... Thus I must ask you... to watch over my tribe... Into your hands I give the future..." Her last word trailed off, and her eyes closed as her psionic presence disappeared. She'd lost too much blood.

Kerrigan looked from Zeratul to the dead Matriarch, then from the dead Matriarch to Zeratul, mouth agape. "I can hardly believe this!" she declared. "You've killed your own Matriarch!"

Zeratul's voice was grim. "Better that I killed her than let her live as your slave, Kerrigan."

Kerrigan took a deep breath, then smiled slightly. "Well, I have misjudged you, warrior. You are worthy, indeed. You are free to go."

"What?" Zeratul and I both shouted telepathically in disbelief.

"I said, you are free to go," Kerrigan repeated, still smiling slightly. "I've already taken your honor. I'll let you live, because I know that from now on, your every waking moment will be torture. You'll never be able to forgive yourself for what I've forced you to do. And that, Zeratul, is a better revenge than I could have ever dreamed of."

I frowned. Is that really how Protoss honor worked? How would Kerrigan know that?

Zeratul scoffed. "You will regret this decision, Kerrigan. We shall meet again." He turned to leave.

I had to make a choice quickly. On the one hand, when the Protoss learned he'd killed the Matriarch, he might lose his standing as a leader, and then he could be harmless. On the other hand, a dark templar was never harmless. No, this was stupid. Zeratul was right. We'd regret letting him go.

"Kerrigan, are you insane?" I shouted down telepathically. "He's right; you'll regret this! I don't care whether or not his life will be more painful now; he's too dangerous to leave alive!"

Kerrigan growled. "You don't command me, Cerebrate. We can handle one depressed templar."

I shook my head. "You underestimated Mengsk. You underestimated Tassadar. Don't underestimate Zeratul too!"

I watched through Kerrigan's eyes as Zeratul disappeared into the shadows. She strode back towards her overlord. "I'm not," she said simply, and I felt her disconnect from the hivemind.

"Urgggggggh!" I groaned in frustration.

Duran spoke up next to me. "I agree with you, Cerebrate. With your permission, I will depart to hunt down and kill Zeratul."

I narrowed my eyes, suspicious at Duran's sudden agreement. Then I sighed. Despite my misgivings, Duran had always proved reliable in the past, and I did want Zeratul dead. "Fine," I answered. "Do it. I will not inform Kerrigan of the true reason for your disappearance."

Duran nodded, saluted, then walked off briskly in the direction of the overlord transports.

…

Kerrigan didn't return to the Leviathan right away, so I set about cleanup operations. What few Protoss had survived my onslaught had been recalled, or had fled in the carrier they arrived in. A few pockets of UED soldiers had survived, but any that I found I set about infesting. The bulk of the work, though, was in assuming direct control of the feral zerg. Using the Leviathan to amplify my psionic signal, I soared all over the planet telepathically dominating the hive clusters that had once belonged to the infant overmind. It was a draining and tedious task.

A few hours into it, Kerrigan returned. We did not speak; once she boarded the Leviathan, she stayed in the evolution pit, presumably speaking with Abathur.

The whole planet of Char had completely rotated several times before I was even a quarter of the way done with my task. Granted, Char days were shorter than Terran standard days, which were based on the rotational speed of Earth, but it still felt like a long time before anything exciting happened. But when the next exciting thing happened… boy did it happen.

Izsha suddenly blared a telepathic alarm. "Cerebrate! Three separate fleets have warped into the system and are approaching this planet!"

That got my attention. "What? Who? We are not prepared!"

Kerrigan's telepathic voice cut in, and I sensed her running down the corridors towards me in the head of the Leviathan as she reconnected herself to the hivemind. "The bulk of our broods are still scattered across the surface of Char. We'll need to hold off the invaders with what forces we have onboard and can recall in the next few minutes!"

"Terran transmission detected," Izsha announced. "We're being hailed."

"Put it through," I ordered, my stomach twisting in knots as I turned to the fleshy screen.

A handsome golden-haired man appeared, barely older than a teenager. "My name is Valerian Mengsk," he said calmly. "I have come to make you pay for your crimes against my father and the Terran people."

"Valerian Mengsk?" Kerrigan echoed as she entered the room. "Arcturus never spoke of a son."

"He and I weren't on the best of terms," Valerian explained. "But I am the rightful heir to his throne. When I defeat you here, my rule will be solidified in the minds of the people."

I frowned. "But how did you scrape up so many forces? The Dominion's military was in shambles!"

"I called in some favors owed to my father. Made a few concessions concerning my new rule. You'd be surprised how many special interest groups in this sector want to see you two dead."

"Well, I'm sorry to have to disappoint you and your new friends, boy," Kerrigan replied haughtily. "But you really shouldn't have attempted this stunt. It'll take more than your three little fleets to bring us down."

"Three fleets?" Valerian asked in confusion.

My frown deepened as Kerrigan replied indignantly, "Don't play dumb, pretty boy. We've already spotted the other two fleets."

Before Valerian could respond, Izsha cut in. "Message received via Protoss psionic signal. Playing now."

A young-looking Protoss face I didn't recognize appeared on screen, and spoke with confidence. "This is Artanis. My brethren and I have come to avenge the deaths of Fenix, the Matriarch, and all the other Protoss who fell before the swarm! It is long past time you paid for your crimes against our people."

I frowned. Who the hell was Fenix? Did Kerrigan kill him on Shakuras? Or did he die fighting the original Overmind's swarm on Aiur?

Kerrigan sighed. "When it rains, it pours..." she muttered to herself.

Valerian was smiling. "The Protoss, too! Care to take a guess as to who the third fleet is?"

"There's only one other power left in this sector," I answered flatly.

Kerrigan nodded. "No need to guess. It's DuGalle and the remainder of the UED fleet."

Izsha cut in once more. "New transmission," she announced, and put the face of an elderly Terran on-screen without being prompted.

"This is Admiral DuGalle," declared the old man, confirming our expectations. "I am giving you one last chance to surrender your forces and submit to the sovereign authority of the United Earth Directorate."

I barked out a laugh. Even if we failed to defeat them here, I'd much rather just warp away to fight another day.

Kerrigan replied sarcastically. "Gee, that's a tough one, Admiral. You'll have to let me think for a minute..." She paused dramatically. "You know, Admiral, I think I'll just infest your remaining troops now and watch you die in agony. How would that be?"

DuGalle frowned. "You vastly underestimate me, my dear."

Kerrigan smiled. "I don't think so, Admiral. You see, at this point... I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe."

I had to stifle a laugh. It was surprising to hear Kerrigan refer to herself in such terms, but it wasn't exactly an inaccurate title.

"You can't stop me," Kerrigan taunted. "Maybe your friend Stukov could have. He was twice the man you are. I'm glad you tried to kill him. His talents are much better used in my service than yours."

DuGalle's eyes bulged. "What?!" he roared.

As if on cue, Stukov entered the room. Presumably he had been making his way here from some other part of the Leviathan since Izsha first announced the UED transmission. "Gerard," he greeted his old friend when he spotted his face on screen.

DuGalle's eyes scanned up and down Stukov's pockmarked and tentacled body. "My God… Alexei, what have they done to you?" The poor admiral looked ready to cry.

"They saved my life by infesting me," Stukov explained, drawing closer to the screen. "I'm part of the Zerg now. I am no longer capable of acting against their interest." Stukov paused. "Don't challenge us, Gerard," he warned, a pleading look in his eye. "It won't end well. And the UED's mission for this sector has already failed. There's nothing left to fight for. Retreat to the Earth. See your family again."

DuGalle's lip wobbled like a child's. He closed his eyes as though in pain. Finally, he composed himself. "I will not let this insult go unpunished," he declared. "The human Alexei I was friends with will be avenged! I rescind my offer of sparing you if you surrender. You will all die this day."

DuGalle's elderly face disappeared as he ended the transmission. Valerian grinned, apparently pleased at the drama he'd just witnessed and his unexpected allies, and then he ended his transmission as well.

Kerrigan, Stukov, Izsha, and I were left alone to prepare for the hardest fight of our lives.


	21. Omega

The fleets were on an intercept course with the Leviathan, so my first move was to order everyone into droppods, so we could safely hide on Char. I wasn't expecting the Leviathan to be able to survive such a massive onslaught, and I wasn't about to go down with the ship.

My second order was recalling the four additional Leviathans I had morphed a while back, and having all of the Leviathans launch all their forces.

By the time the enemy fleets arrived, they were met with hundreds of thousands of mutalisks, devourers, guardians, and scourge. The battle commenced.

Terran battlecruiser lasers tore through every zerg unit in sight, even as Mengsk's wraiths and DuGalle's valkyries engaged the Zerg in fast-paced dogfights. The Protoss carriers launched their interceptors, which promptly began whizzing around the battlefield launching strafing attacks at my forces.

I ordered my Leviathan forward, and their spear-tipped tentacles began launching at the nearby capital ships, puncturing holes in battlecruisers and carriers. A fleet of Protoss Scouts, hidden by the cloaking field of an arbiter, appeared behind one of the Leviathans and began pounding its carapace with hundreds of missile barrages.

I had one advantage in the fight: control of the old Confederate orbital platforms. I deployed hydralisks and spore colonies to the platforms to aid in the space battle with their ground-to-air attacks. Terran and Protoss forces quickly noticed the strategic advantage of the platforms, however, and deployed battalions of ground forces to commandeer the platforms for themselves.

The battle raged, and outer space quickly clogged with the twisted remains of starships and space-faring zerg, even as still more pieces rained down onto the contested platforms, which swiftly grew stained with blood of every color.

It was chaos. Once I got to a hatchery's hivemind sac on the surface of Char, I micromanaged the battle as best I could, but so much was happening at any one time, my efforts felt washed out by the sea of destruction surrounding every unit I saved.

Lurkers burrowed into the platforms defended my fortifications for a time, and my fleets of mutalisks, devourers, and guardians made headway in areas. But for every inch of space I gained in one place, I lost one somewhere else. The battle was pitched, with positions constantly changing. It was all I could do just to hang on to my primary base on the orbital platform. I kept morphing more and more units, especially scourge, from that base and from my hatcheries grounded on Char, but handfuls of new forces could barely make a dent in the immense armies they faced.

The biggest advantage I had was that the three enemy fleets were not unified. If they had worked together, with coordinated advances, protoss technology supporting terran armament, the battle would have gone much worse, and would likely have ended in a loss for me. But they staggered their attacks instead, each fleet wanting to lay claim to the glory of being the one to defeat Kerrigan and I. Their pride would be their downfall.

In light of their uncooperation, a strategy began to take shape in my mind. I'd need help…

"Kerrigan," I barked psionically. "Take two Leviathans and a handful of forces and hold off the protoss advance as long as you can. Don't worry about keeping them alive or killing enemies. Just stall."

"Alright." Kerrigan replied. She was psionically powerful enough to control forces without a hivemind sac, and I felt her start issuing telepathic orders to my army on the protoss front.

"Stukov," I continued. "Do the same with the UED."

"As you command," came his reply. After a moment to enter a different hatchery's hivemind sac, I felt him begin to issue telepathic orders as well. Stukov's control of the zerg was unpracticed, but he knew UED tactics, and I didn't need him to win. Just stall.

With the UED and Protoss fronts covered, I moved the bulk of my forces to face Valerian. His fleet was the smallest of the three. By dedicating so many of my forces to dealing with Valerian, I began to gain ground against him rapidly. Swarms of fliers ripped through his fleet, even as ground-based zerg relentlessly assaulted his position on the orbital platforms.

It was a long and costly battle, as Valerian just had so many forces. I wouldn't have been surprised if you'd told me this was every Terran army and mercenary company left in the sector. But the nice thing about commanding a zerg swarm fueled by all the riches of Moria is no matter how numerous the enemy, I could always muster still more. So I slowly progressed, pushing my army deeper and deeper into Valerian's position.

Hours later, I finally eradicated the last of Valerian's forces on the orbital platforms, and fought tooth and nail to reach Valerian's flagship.

Izsha's voice cut in, breaking my concentration. "Terran transmission received. Playing."

Valerian's voice resounded in my head, then. "Congratulations, Cerebrate. Kerrigan. You've beaten the Mengsk family again. Just remember that I'll be out there, waiting for you to slip up. Because sooner or later you'll make a mistake. And when you do…" Valerian trailed off, letting the threat hang in the air.

Before I could react, Valerian's flagship and the few surviving ships in his fleet warped away.

One down, two to go, I muttered to myself.

Kerrigan's voice cut in to my consciousness. "Cerebrate, I don't have enough forces. I held them as long as I could, but the protoss have destroyed my Leviathans and broken the rest of my defenses. I need reinforcements."

"On my way," I replied telepathically. I quickly gathered up my surviving forces and sent them at the Protoss, while refreshing my orders to all my hatcheries to make them continue producing more units to replace those lost.

I found that the Protoss forces had routed Kerrigan's, and were extending aggressively into my territory. The arrival of my army punished them for this extension, picking apart squads isolated from the main protoss fleet and forcing them back.

The Protoss regrouped quickly, and moved to meet me in battle. A long war of attrition ensued, with heavy losses on both sides. Against the Terrans, this would have benefited me due to my ability to constantly morph reinforcements. The Protoss, however, possessed the ability to warp reinforcements to precise locations directly from Shakuras through the use of gateways and star gates. It was more expensive for them than it was for me, but I still did not think that I could win through attrition alone.

Unit to unit, the Protoss were unquestionably superior. The one way I would be able to beat them would be through superior numbers, but there were only so many units that could fit in a line. As long as we only fought on one front, they'd have an advantage, so I ordered my units to spread out, maneuvering them over, under, and around the Protoss army.

The concave meant that more of my men could attack than theirs could, and my forces began to push them back. But I needed more. I ordered my original Leviathan to warp to the other side of the Protoss fleet, and then commanded it to launch what few forces it still carried.

The protoss were now beset by Zerg on both sides. I ordered more control groups into their midst, engaging their interceptors in tight dogfights. The Protoss attention was spread too thin now that that the zerg swarmed all around them. Though nearly every Protoss warrior and starship that was overwhelmed and destroyed took many zerg with them, in the end my superior numbers and better positioning won out, and I penetrated into the heart of their fleet.

As Izsha announced another incoming transmission, I knew the Protoss were attempting to retreat, and I urged my minions to destroy as many starships as possible before they could warp out.

Artanis' voice resounded in my head. "Savor this victory, Kerrigan. The Protoss shall never forget your treachery! We shall be watching you."

With that, the surviving Protoss starships warped out.

Two down, one to go, I muttered to myself. He seemed to blame Kerrigan only. If the Protoss were unaware of my involvement, that might be handy in the future.

I checked in with Stukov. His defenses were holding, but only just. He'd already lost both his Leviathans, but he'd made the UED bleed for every zerg they killed.

I rushed the battered survivors of the battle against the Protoss over to reinforce Stukov's lines. Were my forces mere humans, the protracted battle would have left them exhausted and ineffectual. Not so the Zerg. My minions were limited only by the damage to their biological organs.

As every Zerg in orbit converged on the UED position, DuGalle must have realized what he was in for. He pulled all his men back and arranged them into defensive formations.

It was another tough fight. Without the space platforms I very well might have lost, as it didn't matter to the fleets of UED valkyries how many mutalisks I had: their missile salvos tore apart fifty mutas as though there were five. Devourers and scourge were enormously useful in holding the line, but the battle only really turned in my favor when my ultralisks and hydralisks broke through into the UED base on the platform. Then my hydralisks could support my aerial units, launching their spines at incredible velocities, cutting straight through valkyries without risk of retaliation.

I kept advancing and destroying, and finally, DuGalle accepted defeat.

"Incoming transmission," Izsha announced.

DuGalle's voice droned mournfully in my head. "Cerebrate. Kerrigan. I am prepared to offer terms of surrender. It is my wish that you allow my men to live-"

Kerrigan's voice interrupted. "You're not in a position to offer us anything, Admiral. And we don't take prisoners. I'll tell you what... Turn your remaining ships around and start heading back towards the Earth. I'll even let you have a head start, before I send the Swarms after you. It'll be interesting sport to see how far you get before you die."

Surely the UED battlecruisers had warping capability? Chasing a fleet that was leapfrogging through wormholes was not my idea of a good time. Besides, I thought of something he could offer me… "That is one choice," I spoke up, broadcasting my mental voice on DuGalle's radio signal. "You have one other choice. Surrender and accept infestation."

"Infestation?" DuGalle asked angrily, no doubt thinking of Stukov.

"Your men will live if they submit to infestation," I continued. "And it's not a bad life. A zerg body offers many advantages over a human one. And your only alternative is being hunted down and killed."

"I…" DuGalle hesitated. I didn't envy him. From his perspective, this was quite possibly the worst choice he'd ever been faced with, stuck between two monstrous options.

"And you'll be with your pal Stukov again," Kerrigan added, gleeful at DuGalle's torment. "Best friends forever, for real this time. If he can forgive your betrayal, that is."

DuGalle took a deep breath and muttered something. The only word I was able to make out was a name: "Helena." Then he spoke up. "I will confer with my captains."

"Very well. Do not take long," I replied.

A few minutes passed, during which time I set about bringing my damaged minions back to the hive clusters to rest and regenerate, leaving my healthy minions in threatening formation around the UED fleet.

"We have decided to split up," DuGalle's voice finally returned. "Some of us will remain and submit to infestation. The rest of us will take our chances in a flight to Earth. I pray we never meet again." DuGalle ended the transmission.

As I watched, many UED battlecruisers warped away, including their flagship, the Alexsander.

"Shame," I thought. "An earth admiral would have been a wonderful prize."

Some battlecruisers remained, weapons and shields powered down. I sent my minions in overlords to board and ensure it wasn't a trap. They were met only with glares and heads hung low. Satisfied, I ordered my Abathurs to begin the process of infestation.

I felt a strange sensation, then, a tickling in the back of my mind. It didn't seem significant at the time, so I ignored it.

A few days later, the infestation was completed, and Kerrigan was satisfied she'd given DuGalle enough of a head start. She took most of the surviving fliers and warped away in pursuit of the UED.

During this time, the tickle in the back of my mind grew to a louder buzzing. It should have been irritating, but I found it somewhat calming.

A month or so later, Kerrigan and her forces returned. From the happiness I felt in her through the hivemind, I gathered she'd been successful in hunting down the UED.

I was resting in a spawning pool, and Kerrigan dismissed her wartorn forces and swiftly flew over and joined me. Upon seeing her, I asked, "How did it go?" I immediately regretted it. For some reason , Kerrigan had prepared a speech.

"Once again I stand atop the broken bodies of my enemies," she began, smiling, but with a serious look in her eye. "Victorious, but not unscarred. The Earth-borne Directorate has been destroyed. And the Overmind lies dead and trampled beneath the ashes of Char. As for the remaining Terrans and Protoss, I think that we shall allow them a reprieve. For in time we will seek to test their resolve, and their strength. They will all be mine in the end, for I am the Queen of Blades. None shall ever dispute my rule again."

It's funny, I thought while she delivered her speech, not really paying attention. The human Kerrigan had been intense, but aloof. Why does the infested Kerrigan have such a flair for the dramatic?

"Right," I replied simply when she finished. "I assume it went well, then." My next words surprised me. "And I agree. We should allow the remaining Terrans and Protoss a reprieve."

What? That made no strategic sense! They were broken! Now was the time to finish our conquest of the sector and complete our infestation of the Koprulu Terrans! It would be stupid to give them time to rebuild their forces!

But no matter how much my reason struggled and protested, I found I could not muster the motivation to act. Something was preventing me from continuing the conquest.

The buzzing! I realized with a start. I'd grown used to its calming presence, and only then did I realize what it reminded me of: the Overmind.

But the Overmind was dead. Both of them. It had to be something else. Something controlling us the same way the Overmind had, preventing us from attacking.

I didn't understand it, but I could not deny its efficacy. Over the next few days, weeks, months, years, I tried everything I could think of to investigate and overcome its influence. Nothing worked. We were stuck on the planets we had already conquered.

A strange feeling began to take hold of me, and through the hive mind I could sense the same feeling take hold of Kerrigan. Whether we stared into the molten caverns of Char, the pulsating organs of the hive cluster, or the endless void of outer space, we could not shake the feeling that a great and mysterious threat loomed just over the horizon.

 _A/N_

 _Thus ends the Starcraft 1 portion of the Magistrate's story. If you've read this far, please drop a review. Hearing praise and constructive criticism makes the work that goes into writing this feel worthwhile. Follow for updates — the Starcraft 2 portion of the Magistrate's story will begin soon!_


	22. Echoes of the Future

_A/N: As I have received several questions concerning the status of some canon characters, I thought I would write a short update to explain in detail what has happened to those characters in this alternate universe, rather than expecting the reader to guess based on what information the infested Magistrate is aware of._

Raynor:

Raynor died on Tarsonis, in chapter 1 of this story. The Magistrate never saw him die, but the Overmind's Zerg had no reason to infest him rather than kill him, so they just killed him. He came to Tarsonis for the same reason the Magistrate did in this AU: to protect Kerrigan. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him. As a result, much of his role in the plot will be taken up by other Terrans like Valerian or Warfield, or, at other times, the plot will just progress differently due to his absence. For example, Swann and Stettman will never be rescued from their respective predicaments, so they will not be appearing. Finally, while Raynor is dead, we do know from Stukov and the Purifiers that death is not always the end in the Starcraft universe…

Fenix:

The Protoss were able to take down the Overmind without the help of Raynor's Raiders (that was, after all, the easiest way to beat the original mission, at least in my experience: ignore the Terrans and just mass Carriers). But without Raynor's help, the Protoss that stayed behind to guard the warpgate on Aiur could not survive the Zerg onslaught. Fenix's dragoon was destroyed protecting the warpgate, trying to stop the Zerg from reaching Shakuras. As a result, he never joins up with Kerrigan and never gets betrayed by her.

Arcturus Mengsk:

The Magistrate kills Arcturus Mengsk the first chance he gets like any reasonable person. Who wouldn't? Oh, right, canon Kerrigan, who then spends Heart of the Swarm trying to remedy that mistake. The Magistrate nips that in the bud. Most of Arcturus' role in the plot will therefore be taken up by his son Valerian, or else the plot will just diverge from canon. Neither Kerrigan nor the Magistrate has a particular vendetta against Valerian, so Heart of the Swarm will probably end up a much shorter part of their story…

Tosh and the Spectres:

Unlike Arcturus, Valerian never approves Project: Shadowblade. He's the sort of ruler who would be a lot more interested in the scholarly implications of the Xel'Naga ruins around a terrazine deposit than the possible combat implications of ghosts hooked on terrazine. As a result, the powers of terrazine are never discovered by the Terrans and the spectres are never created. Tosh is still a ghost. Maybe the Magistrate will run into him. You never know.

Tychus:

Arcturus' reasons for releasing Tychus from prison were always rather odd. Just hope that he somehow gets close to Raynor, that Raynor somehow gets close to Kerrigan, that Kerrigan somehow becomes vulnerable, that Raynor refuses to kill her (despite canonically having sworn to do so), and that Tychus will then be able to kill her without Raynor or Kerrigan herself stopping him. The only way Mengsk would have thought that likely enough to warrant releasing a convicted criminal is if he read the script for the game, or at least was half-crazed with desperation. But hey, Arcturus has done crazy things before. Valerian is a bit more reasonable than his father. He wouldn't release Tychus, so in this AU Tychus stays rotting in New Folsom.

Zerg Evolutions:

With so many Abathurs, the Zerg are bound to evolve at a rapid pace. They'll get some of their canonically later evolutions more quickly, including some exclusive to Coop missions. It's also worth noting that the typical infested Terrans you see across Starcraft II will never be developed in this alternate universe, not under the Magistrate's watch. He wants to infest people like Kerrigan and himself, so they'll be powerful and immortal. Not like the tortured Terrans in the Colonist missions in Wings of Liberty or in Stukov's forces in the Coop missions. That's too cruel for him. Perhaps he'll find a more humane way to develop Aberrations, however.

 _A/N: If there any other canon characters or events you want to know about, drop a review and let me know, and I'll try to add it to this page. Next chapter, Starcraft II's story begins..._


	23. Smash and Grab

Four years. Four long years. That was how long it took for the buzzing signal that controlled us to change. During that time, my attention was restricted to consolidating control over the worlds already owned by the Zerg: Char, Tarsonis, Braxis, Mar Sara, and Moria. The buzzing signal refused to let me expand to other worlds, but I at least was permitted to oversee the building of new societies of infested Terrans on these worlds. As I had suspected, the infested grew used to their new lot in life over the years, and began to reluctantly appreciate the gift I'd given them.

It took a long time, but the Abathurs were eventually able to modify their design for infested Terrans enough to solve the reproduction problem. By changing key hormones and tissue compositions, they were able to give the infested the ability to lay and fertilize eggs, at the cost of some physical strength. Those infested who desired children enough to submit to the Abathurs' violent tampering with their organs were soon rewarded with the hatching of cute baby infested.

The Abathurs also got to work on evolving the Swarm. Over the course of four years, they transformed the Swarm into something almost unrecognizable. Tons of new strains were created: roaches, banelings, corruptors, brood lords, and more. Others were transformed: ultralisks became less tanky but more damaging to more enemies, while queens lost their ability to fly but gained the ability to help hatcheries spawn more larvae. And a few strains that I didn't use much were removed entirely, like defilers.

While I oversaw infested society and the Abathurs evolved the Swarm, the rest of the Zerg leaders found themselves without much of anything to do. Stukov led the colony of infested UED soldiers on Char, but that wasn't exactly a demanding job. Neither was mine, for that matter. Infested bodies had no real needs, since our cells gained energy from sunlight, like the Protoss, and from the plentiful creep covering the ground. Moreover, the hivemind prevented us from having violent disagreements with one another. Thus, the role of leadership was mostly reduced to the role of recreation supervisor.

Meanwhile, Zagara oversaw the Zerg on Moria. The four years saw her complete her campaign against the Morians, wiping out their society and forcing any survivors to flee to the Dominion or to the Umojan Protectorate, the two remaining Terran powers. After that, she sat around without anything more to do. Kerrigan was similarly bored, spending most of her time on Char destroying natural formations for her own amusement or experimenting on Char's critters. Izsha's services were no longer needed, so she entered hibernation, along with the surviving Leviathan. As for Duran, I never heard from him again. I had no idea if he'd succeeded in killing Zeratul, or if he'd even tried.

At the end of the four years, the signal abruptly changed. Instead of demanding that I stay docile on my own world, it commanded the Zerg to go forth and invade. I could have jumped for joy then, but I quickly realized that the signal was not giving me free reign, but rather drawing me towards five points in particular. It wanted me to find things at those coordinates, find them and bring them back to Char.

The first point was on Mar Sara. That would be easy. Mar Sara was under our control. I ordered a drone to the location the signal specified.

Nothing was there. Just rocky canyons and bare shrubbery.

Then I felt the signal pulling me down. Into the earth. I immediately ordered my drone to burrow. After burrowing straight down for some time, it hit something. Something long-buried and forgotten, and full nearly to bursting with psionic energy. I ordered the drone to retrieve it, and it set to work digging the artifact out.

One down, four to go. I examined the other four signals more closely, I realized that three of them weren't specified by the signal with any precision, instead drawing me to a sector of space. I would need more to go on. The signal changed, then, drawing me to a location on a Terran planet. Perhaps I'd find the information about precise locations there.

The signal was still leading me towards one artifact with precision. The coordinates were on a moon in unclaimed space called Monlyth. Time for an expedition.

"Izsha," I called out telepathically, waking her from her hibernation. "Prepare the Leviathan. For the first time in four years, we're leaving."

Stukov's voice rang out. "Hell, it's about time."

"Indeed," Kerrigan agreed, trying to hide the eagerness in her mental voice. "It'll feel good to go on the warpath again."

"War useful," an Abathur opined. "Evolution stagnates without challenges."

"For the Swarm!" Zagara added helpfully.

...

A few hours later, our Leviathan was holding orbit over Monlyth.

"Protoss psionic signals detected," Izsha informed us as we approached the site.

I frowned. "Monlyth isn't near Shakuras. And their deep space colonies were abandoned when the Zerg attacked Aiur. Why would Protoss be here?"

"Their psionic signals feel different," Kerrigan informed me, also frowning. "The Protoss of Aiur, who are connected to the Khala, taste bright and sharp. The Dark Templar taste cold and… well, dark. These Protoss taste hot and angry. I think they're an entirely different third kind of Protoss."

My eyes widened. "How could that be? Wouldn't the Overmind have known about them?"

Kerrigan shook her head. "Not if Zeratul didn't know about them. The Overmind wouldn't have been able to pick out the information from his mind, then."

A Protoss psionic transmission reached us then. "We know of your deeds in this sector, Zerg Swarm. We, the Tal'Darim, will not tolerate your presence in this holy place. Turn back now, or be destroyed!"

I blinked. "Tal'Darim huh? Interesting. Well, even if we wanted to, the signal will not allow us to heed their warning. We're going in. Izsha, what do their defenses look like?"

"They have many photon cannons, zealots, stalkers, and archons guarding the steps of the temple housing the artifact."

I frowned. "Stalkers?"

"A dark templar version of a Dragoon," Izsha clarified. "The Protoss army has evolved."

"But why would Tal'Darim have Dark Templar technology?"

"Scouting data suggests the Tal'Darim have scavenged most of their technology from the more industrious Protoss factions," Izsha explained.

I nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. In any case, we've faced much worse. Anyone have any suggestions as to a strategy?"

Kerrigan spoke up with confidence. "We should send a force of zerglings and hydralisks down to the moon, burrow them, make them lie in wait until some Terrans arrive, then throw waves of them at the temple, slowly whittling the Protoss down and giving the Terrans plenty of time to fight through the Protoss and extract the artifact first, should they wish to."

I stared at Kerrigan incredulously. "What? I mean… are you serious? Kerrigan, I don't think these four years have been kind to you. You seem to have lost all of your former deviousness."

Kerrigan scowled. "The whispers compel us to seek out the artifacts. They aren't compelling us to do so quickly or efficiently. Don't you feel it, Cerebrate? A storm is coming that cannot be stopped. The galaxy will burn."

I nodded. I couldn't deny the sense of impending doom that accompanied the signal, or "whispers."

"The end comes," Kerrigan continued. "When it finds me, I will embrace it at last. But I see no reason to hasten its arrival."

I frowned. "Well, I take back what I said. That's actually quite brilliant. I hadn't thought about being intentionally inefficient to frustrate the whispers. But you seem to think that such efforts are ultimately futile. We've talked about this, Kerrigan. You can't give up on the universe yet. Not while I still draw breath."

Kerrigan stared at me sadly. "I did agree to that, didn't I? Fine. But the whispers don't leave much room for hope. Any, really. The Protoss will make a last stand against an enslaved Zerg Swarm and then be eradicated. Nothing will survive, save monstrous creatures composed of both Protoss and Zerg DNA."

I stared at her stupified, mouth agape. Finally, I recovered enough to ask, "How on earth can you know that?"

"The whispers have shown it to me. It comes with the authority of the Overmind. Can you not feel it?"

I shook my head. "No, I can't. Either you're crazy, or your greater psionic power is allowing you to receive more of the mysterious signal. I can't even make out particular whispers."

"Nor can I," Stukov offered.

Kerrigan sighed. "I am not crazy."

I nodded. "Okay. Then what do you suggest we do? Does your… vision, I guess, suggest a way of preventing it from coming to fruition?"

Kerrigan shook her head. "Not really, but…" she paused. "There's something else. A very quiet whisper. Almost undetectable. It feels… kinder… than the whispers surrounding it. It's pulling me elsewhere. To a planet. 'Ulaan,' it whispers. Perhaps I'll find something to help us there."

I nodded. "It's worth a shot. Go. I'll stall for you here, as long as I can."

Kerrigan hesitated, then nodded back. "Stay safe," she commanded, before departing, taking a token force with her.

As her overlords warped away, I followed her original plan, slowly ferrying my men to the ground around the temple, letting many of them be destroyed in transit and burrowing all survivors. It was genuinely painful to me to be so unstrategic in this battle, but when I considered that the cause of the signal was the true enemy, and that this was the best strategy available to us against it, I was able to overcome my reluctance.

I commanded my forces to lay in wait, pretending to bide my time until the opportune moment. The signal allowed it for some time, but eventually, exactly as Kerrigan predicted (I chalked it up to her being actually psychic), a group of Terrans arrived and set up a base nearby. Suddenly, the signal would no longer allow me to wait. It insisted I attack. So I unburrowed my forces and began to launch them in waves at the Protoss temple.

All I sent were small control groups, but the Tal'Darim commander must have been terribly incompetent, as they steadily lost ground to my swarm despite their considerable defenses. I considered sending similar armies at the Terrans to remove them from the fight, but I discovered to my surprise that the signal would not allow that. It would only allow seriously tiny challenges, in the vein of three zerglings and a hydralisk, easily dealt with even by the small Terran force.

I wondered at that, and decided to open a channel to the Terran base. "Terran Commander," I began, broadcasting on a general frequency. "Who are you?"

There was a pause, then… "Cerebrate," Valerian acknowledged. "We meet again."

Scouts and intercepted transmissions had informed me that, despite the setback with which his reign had begun, Valerian had managed to largely rebuild the Terran Dominion into a significant force in the Koprulu sector once again.

"So we do," I replied. "I have to assume you are here for the same reason we are? The artifact piece?" There wasn't anything else of interest on this moon.

Valerian nodded, his face wobbling on the Leviathan's fleshy video screen. "The Moebius Foundation has assured me that the completed artifact possesses the power to end the threat you represent once and for all."

I furrowed my brow. "Really? How interesting." I had no idea why the signal wanted the artifact, but it would be strange if it were to kill us, considering it had control over us. Either the artifact had multiple uses, or this Moebius Foundation was lying. "It's a race, then. First one to the temple gets the artifact."

Valerian nodded and ended the transmission.

I wasn't sure who I'd rather have the artifact. If the artifact would not in fact be used against us, it seemed better to frustrate the signal's goal and let Valerian have it. But I didn't want to risk it. Kerrigan probably would have, especially since she didn't like living much anyway. But not me. So I redoubled my efforts, throwing my aerial units into the fight.

The Protoss defenses quickly fell before my onslaught, and I reached the artifact piece before the Terrans had even climbed halfway up the temple. There were a few strange statues guarding the artifact that came to life and attacked us, but my mutalisks made short work of them. The artifact piece was mine.

Valerian began another transmission. "I'd forgotten how resourceful you were, Cerebrate. I won't make that mistake again." Then he ended the transmission and began evacuating his forces.

I wasn't sure how resourceful it was to simply attack with greater numbers, but then, this was coming from the guy who could field a dozen battlecruisers and chose not to, so maybe it was resourceful compared to him.

Two artifact pieces were now ours. Three remained.


	24. The Moebius Factor

"Abathur," I greeted as I entered the evolution pit, flanked by two drones carrying two artifact pieces.

"Cerebrate," an Abathur replied, slithering up to me. "Working. Flaw discovered. Zerglings allergic to lemon juice. Must solve."

I blinked. "Okay… well, that can wait. I need you to inspect these artifacts and inform me of their capabilities."

The Abathur peered behind me, noticing the drones' cargo. Then he slithered up to the artifact pieces, placing his spindly hands all over them.

"Intriguing," he commented. "Emitting enormous energy. Many capabilities. Can alter both form and essence. Manipulate sequences and consciousness." His expression turned more fearful. "Dangerous. Could eradicate Swarm. Advise immediate destruction."

I frowned. Normally, I would agree. Anything with the power to destroy the Swarm was too dangerous to keep around. But I found I couldn't agree. The signal wouldn't let me. "I… can't do that, Abathur. Sorry. Do your best to keep it safe."

Abathur blinked. "Very well," he said, and took control of the drones carrying the pieces.

"Cerebrate," Izsha's voice cut in. "Kerrigan's overlord has returned."

"Oh good," I responded. "Send her to me when she docks."

…

"Cerebrate," Kerrigan began without ceremony when she rejoined me at the head of the Leviathan.

"Kerrigan," I replied. "How did it go?"

"I ran into Zeratul. He was looking for an ancient prophecy engraved on Xel'Naga ruins."

I blinked. So, Duran hadn't killed Zeratul after all. Had Zeratul killed Duran instead? "Did you kill him?" I asked Kerrigan.

Kerrigan shook her head. "I threw some minions at him to slow him down while I investigated the ruins myself, but I'd already told him I'd let him live. Though I might have to reconsider my position. I thought killing the Matriarch would turn him into a hated outcast, but a small Protoss force tracked me to Ulaan and, when they saw Zeratul, treated him with honor."

I decided against telling Kerrigan something to the effect of, "I told you we should have killed him." Instead, I asked, "What did the prophecy predict?"

Kerrigan frowned. "The engravings were all pictograms, so they were difficult to interpret. I think it says that one of the Xel'Naga will destroy everything."

"A Xel'Naga?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "Aren't they extinct?"

"Well, no one's seen any since the Zerg first left Zerus. But that doesn't mean they're extinct. And if you think about it, what else could be whispering to us? Both Overminds are dead. There aren't enough remaining Cerebrates to form a third - you might even be the only one left. The whispers feel natural, not like the cruel pressure of the psi disruptor, so it's not some machine doing this. But of course the Xel'Naga, who created the Zerg, would build in some ability to control them even in the event of the overmind's death."

I paused. "That… makes a lot of sense. Some Xel'Naga has assumed control of us and wants us to acquire pieces of an ancient Xel'Naga artifact with incredible destructive power because it wants to kill everything. Yeah, I don't think any other explanation makes sense. On top of what you said, how else would the signal know about the ancient Xel'Naga artifact if it wasn't originating from an ancient Xel'Naga itself? Well, then, our task is clear. We have to figure out how to free ourselves from its control and stop it from destroying everything."

Kerrigan nodded. "If such a feat is even possible. I don't suppose you have any ideas?"

I sighed. "No. But the signal wants us to travel to Tyrador VII next. I had Izsha gather information on the world, and it seems to be the headquarters of the Moebius Foundation, who apparently know about the artifacts as well. Perhaps they can help us. The signal will not allow our army to journey to other worlds anyway."

Kerrigan nodded again. "Then I will oversee our assault of the world myself. I will investigate everything, slowly and methodically. Hopefully that will buy you some time. Find the leaders of Moebius and get them to talk."

"Smart plan, Kerrigan." I commented. "Let's get right to it. Izsha, warp us to Tyrador VII."

…

The Moebius Foundation turned out be a much more powerful organization than I would have anticipated. They had constructed a massive sprawling city on the world of Tyrador VII, nearly as large as Augustgrad itself before I had destroyed it. This made no sense to me. I was certain that Moebius hadn't existed, at least not publicly, back when I was Terran. Therefore, all of their infrastructure must have been built up in just the last four years. Where could the resources possibly have come from? Not from the rebuilding Dominion, surely. Another thing to interrogate their leader about, I supposed.

Kerrigan oversaw the invasion of the city, infesting everyone in sight and systematically examining each building for data on the artifacts. The Moebius Foundation had a considerable number of defenders, but four years of Zerg growth translated to a much stronger force than four years of Terran growth, no matter how many resources Moebius had. Thus, Kerrigan was able to beat them back without too much difficulty, especially given her own enormous psionic power.

While she got the city's attention, I took an overlord, an Abathur, and a couple of hydralisks and made my way to the massive building in the center of the city that seemed to be Moebius' headquarters. Izsha had reported intercepting the signals of a Terran there who called himself the leader of Moebius, one Dr. Emil Narud. He was calling for help from Emperor Valerian. Hopefully we could get what we came for before Dominion forces arrived.

The overlord dropped us off on the roof of the building. Rather than hunt around for a door, I spat a giant glob of acid at the metal floor and watched as it dissolved, giving us an entrance. We all jumped into or slithered through my makeshift hole, then began following Narud's radio signal through the winding corridors.

Suddenly, we turned a corner and nearly collided with a labcoat-wearing Terran. She was walking calmly in our direction, her nose buried in a clipboard full of documents. I quickly extended my mind control over her. As soon as she felt my telepathic touch, she froze and slowly looked up. Upon spotting us, her eyes shot open wide in surprise.

"Don't scream," I commanded just in time. Her mouth gaped open but no sound came out. "Now," I continued as her panicked eyes flicked from me to Abathur to the hydralisks to me again, "Tell me where I can find Dr. Narud."

"Down the stairs, third room to the left, in the command center," she blurted out, before immediately clapping her hands over her mouth, dropping her clipboard to the floor with a clatter in the process. "How… how are you doing this?" She asked fearfully.

"Thanks," I nodded at her, already walking towards the nearby stairwell I'd spotted. "Have fun infesting her, Abathur," I waved behind me. "Rejoin me when you are done."

"'Fun' irrelevant," Abathur informed me, though the pleasure audible in his voice belied his comment. "Will test newly designed method of infestation. Incubation period mere hours."

"Glad to hear it," I replied unconcernedly as I descended the stairs, flanked by the two hydralisks.

I made my way to the room the scientist had mentioned, noticing two marines standing guard outside the door. "Kill them," I commanded the hydralisks, and while they occupied the guards, I walked through the door.

I was confronted with an enormous room full of Terran computers and scientific instruments. Several unarmed scientists worked at different stations, and one gray-haired man in particular caught my eye, as he was speaking into a microphone and I recognized his voice as that of the man I had come to find.

"Dr. Emil Narud," I called as I sauntered into the room over to him. "I'm surprised it was so easy to reach you."

The room went silent, and Narud turned to look at me. Strangely, he showed no signs of fear or surprise at my presence. Instead, I only sensed… exasperation?

"Cerebrate," he replied calmly. "I had planned to evacuate before your swarm got anywhere near this building. I must admit I did not expect you to single me out as the target of a covert infiltration."

I frowned, and decided to play it safe by brute forcing the issue. I reached out with my mind to take control of Narud, but when my mind encountered his, I found that it tasted… familiar, somehow, but obscured. As though a favorite dish had been lavishly covered in some strange smelly sauce. I couldn't read his mind through whatever was obscuring it, and moreover, I couldn't take control of him.

"Now, now," Narud laughed, clearly feeling my mental touch. "That would be too easy, don't you think?"

"Who… what are you?" I asked. If Narud were a simple Terran, my powers would have worked.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Narud asked, shaking his head in disappointment. "And here I thought you were supposed to be intelligent. I mean, the name I took was 'Narud.' Not exactly a difficult name to decipher."

Not exactly… as I repeated his words in my mind, I suddenly realized what he meant. "Narud backwards is Duran," I blurted out. "You're Duran! What the hell? I assumed you were dead!"

Narud grinned. "There you go. Although, even Duran was a false name. And no, I was never dead. I simply took my leave of your party once you had finished off the UED and their pet Overmind. It was the only force in the Koprulu sector that could truly pose a threat to my master, you see, what with both you and the Protoss being under his thrall."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "What master?"

"You've felt his whispers, surely," Narud replied. "He commands you to obtain the artifact that will usher in his return to this pitiful galaxy, the same as he commands me."

I blinked. "You're talking about the Xel'Naga."

Narud nodded. "Indeed. His name is Amon, and even now he slumbers in the Void. So let us cease this pointless infighting. Willingly or unwillingly, we are both Amon's servants. Return to your brood. At this point, you seem more likely to obtain the completed artifact than Valerian does, so I will gift you the data cores you seek here. Gather the remaining pieces and assemble them on Char. I will be along to collect it."

I wanted to protest, to attack, to do anything but meekly obey, but as he spoke I felt the signal intensify within me. I was helpless, a prisoner in my own mind as the compulsion took hold of me. I looked desperately around the room for any chance of escape, but I was only met with the blank stares of the other Moebius leaders, apparently also under Narud's control.

I turned around and marched out of the room. The hydralisks were waiting patiently, the marine guards reduced to bloody messes on the floor. I absentmindedly healed their bullet wounds with my ooze on the way back upstairs. When I encountered Abathur and the chrysalis he was forming around the scientist we had run into, I ordered him and his prize to join us. We went back to the roof, boarded the overlord, and returned to the Leviathan. We then waited patiently for Kerrigan to finish her mission.

Valerian showed up eventually, but by that point Kerrigan's work was practically complete. She'd stopped systematically examining the buildings and instead headed straight for the data on the artifacts, apparently compelled by the whispers. When she'd finished extracting the data, she returned to the Leviathan and we warped away.

I hadn't felt the signal that strongly before. Us Zerg were not merely taking orders. We were completely enslaved, bound to the will of Amon. We had to find a way to free ourselves. Soon.


	25. Whispers of Doom

"I'm sorry, Cerebrate," Kerrigan spoke up when we met again in the head of the Leviathan. Despite her words, her voice was filled more with frustration than sorrow. "The whispers grew so loud. And demanding. I couldn't stall any longer. Did you find the Moebius leader?"

"I did," I confirmed. "And you'll never guess who it was. Duran."

"Duran? I'd wondered where he disappeared to. What's he doing with Moebius?"

When I finished explaining all that Narud had told me, Kerrigan cursed. "I will never be a mere puppet again! Not of the Confederacy, not of Mengsk, and not of this Amon. This I swear!" The glow in her eyes erupted into blazing golden fire.

"Neither will I, Kerrigan," I agreed, placing a hand consolingly on Kerrigan's bony shoulder. "We'll beat him."

She turned on me. "How?" she demanded.

I paused. "Well… give me a moment to think about this." I began pacing around in a circle, gesturing and speaking aloud as I thought. "The problem lies with the signal. We need to stop or block the signal somehow. But we can't find and kill Amon, presumably, and nothing can interrupt the connection between the source of an overmind's signal and its minions… except a psi disruptor! That might work… but we destroyed the only psi disruptor we know of and I doubt we'll be able to find or be permitted to construct another. So we can't stop the source, and we can't interrupt the connection… that leaves us with the receiver. Us. The problem lies with the kind of creature that we are. We are the kind of creature that has to obey an overmind's telepathic signal, even one broadcast from a Xel'Naga. Can we change that? Can we… evolve past that? Abathur!" I whirled around and faced the slug from my visit with Narud, who was still working on the scientist's chrysalis in another part of the large room. "Can we evolve a resistance to an Overmind control signal?"

Abathur paused his work, turning his bulbous head away from the chrysalis to stare at me. "Negative," he replied after a moment of thought. "Obedience to overmind hard-coded into most elementary sequences. Part of swarm since Xel'Naga intervention in swarm evolution during earliest days on Zerus. Cannot remove compulsion without removing all psionic connections, preventing all communication with Swarm."

Kerrigan frowned. "But Terran ghosts have psionic connections, enough to read the surface feelings of some Zerg, without needing to obey an overmind's commands."

Abathur nodded slowly. "Not Zerg. Could purge all Zerg cells from body, transform into Terran cells. Would retain psionic connections while avoiding overmind's compulsion."

"Hmm," I murmured. "A short-term solution, as that would make us mortal again."

"Affirmative. Additionally, impossible. Am Zerg. Designed for introducing and modifying Zerg sequences. Cannot remove Zerg sequences."

I grimaced. "So even if we wanted to do that, we wouldn't have the ability. Lovely." I stared thoughtfully at the shadows writhing behind the chrysalis.

Finally, an idea hit me. "What about our scientist friend here?" I asked, pointing at the chrysalis. "She was probably one of the Moebius leaders. Does she know anything useful?"

Abathur blinked a few of his many eyes, then plunged his hands back into the chrysalis, rooting around for the Terran's brain. After a moment, he looked back at me. "Knows little of Narud's plan. Many false Terran fantasies about 'science.'" Abathur hummed a little, apparently signalling that he was still sifting through her memories. "Hmm. Present during first contact with Valerian. Overheard Narud say completed artifact could "uninfest" you if preferred instead of destroying you."

My eyes widened. "Reverse our infestation? Is that true, Abathur?"

"Probable," he replied. "Completed artifact would possess enormous transformational power."

I smiled. "So we DO have the ability after all! That would turn us Terran again, and with her psionic power, Kerrigan, at least, would probably retain her ability to control the Zerg."

Abathur bobbed his bulbous head. "Affirmative. Power limited, however. Only control small parts of Swarm."

"Hmm..." I considered that. "That could be a problem."

"Could use broodmothers to extend control," Abathur offered. "Control broodmothers and one hive cluster at a time. Broodmothers control other hive clusters."

"Good, good, that solves that problem," I rambled excitedly. A strategy was beginning to take shape!

"There's still the issue you mentioned earlier," Kerrigan interrupted. "We can't stay Terran forever. We'll be weak."

"Agreed," I replied, taking a more somber tone. "Even if everything else goes according to plan, I doubt we'll be able to stop Amon's minions from claiming the artifact and ushering him in to destroy our world as Terrans, especially if the Protoss are under his thrall, as Narud claimed. We'll need new Zerg bodies to regain our power and resist him. But we can't simply be reinfested, or we'll be back where we started. Any ideas?"

Kerrigan shook her head. Abathur hummed thoughtfully and then spoke up. "Sensitivity to Overmind's compulsion originates from Xel'Naga intervention in Zerg evolution on Zerus. Unlikely, but possible that Zerg DNA from primal stage in evolution previous to Xel'Naga intervention remains on Zerus. If located, could assimilate, use for more primal infestation without sensitivity to overmind's signal."

I cocked my head, uncertain. "The Cerebrates didn't teach me much about the Zerg's history, but I'm pretty sure they at least said that all living things on Zerus were assimilated into the Swarm, leaving the planet barren when the Swarm abandoned it. I don't want to warp across the galaxy fruitlessly while we're so pressed for time."

Abathur nodded. "Risky. But life on Zerus tenacious. Could have hidden, evolved in our absence. Non-trivial probability."

A distant look entered my eye. "Yes, I suppose… life finds a way." I snapped my attention back to Kerrigan. "Well then, we have a plan! Step 1: assemble the artifact. Not like the signal will allow us to do anything else. Step 2: use it to uninfest ourselves before Narud can use it to summon Amon. Step 3: escape to Zerus and hope we can reinfest ourselves with primal DNA. Step 4: bring the might of the Swarm against Narud and Amon. Step 5: win, and live happily ever after. You see, Kerrigan? We can do this!"

Kerrigan smiled despite herself. "It's worth a try, at least."

"You bet it is!" I declared. "We'll beat him, Kerr. You'll see." Privately, I wasn't nearly so confident, but I wasn't about to let Kerrigan give up hope.

"Kerr?" Kerrigan echoed, amused. "If you want to be casual, you should call me Sarah."

I shook my head. "Sarah is a Terran name."

"Kerrigan is too!" Kerrigan pointed out.

"I suppose so, but it at least sounds Zerg. Zerg names tend to be harder, more guttural. "Zagara." "Daggoth." "Abathur." 'Z's, 'G's, 'B's. A 'K' fits right in. But Sarah? That's too soft and airy. Doesn't fit you anymore."

Kerrigan chuckled. "Whatever you say, nameless one."

I smiled. "Yeah, my Terran name wouldn't fit in either."

"But you realize that the name "Cerebrate" literally begins with the name, "Sarah," right? It's "Sarah-brate."

I froze. "That… is a good point. Maybe I do need a new name. 'Cerebrate' is an outdated term anyway, since I've been the last one alive for over four years now. I'll have to give it some thought." I smiled at Kerrigan.

Kerrigan smiled back. "I will too. Knowing you, you'd just change your name to "Leader" or something equally silly."

I laughed, and Kerrigan laughed with me.

A deep voice coughed behind us. "Ahem."

Kerrigan and I both turned and noticed Stukov standing at attention at the entrance to the chamber. How long had he been waiting for us?

"If you two are done flirting," he said calmly, "Izsha has finished analyzing the Moebius data cores. We know where to find the remaining artifact pieces."

Right. That. I reluctantly pulled my mind away from my happy moment, feeling again the overriding compulsion to assemble the artifact. "Very well," I growled. "But Stukov? Mind your place."

"Of course, Cerebrate," Stukov replied smartly.

I glanced at Kerrigan to check her reaction to Stukov's tactless comment. She was smirking.

I sighed. "Let's just get to work."

Stukov nodded. "Of course. Izsha?"

The tentacled woman formed out of the ceiling and extended snakelike down to us. "Three artifact pieces remain," Izsha informed us when she hung at eye level. "One on Xil, a desert planet full of Xel'Naga ruins. One on Typhon XI, a remote world orbiting a dying star. And a final one in the Sigma Quadrant, on a derelict Xel'Naga capital ship."

"Do we know anything about what we can expect to find in those places, besides the artifact pieces?" I asked. "More Tal'Darim, perhaps?"

"Unknown, but not unlikely," Izsha replied.

"Expedition sent to Xil," Abathur interjected, his arms still deep in the chrysalis. "Moebius. Contact lost. Cause unknown."

"The scientist's memories told you that, huh? Good to know," I commented. "Well, whatever obstacles we end up facing, I imagine bringing our whole Leviathan's worth of units to each location in turn would be serious overkill. Since there's no reason not to be efficient, now, I think Stukov, Kerigan, and I should each take a portion of our forces to secure different artifact pieces."

"A bold move," Kerrigan commented. She seemed to like that phrase a lot. "But I call dibs on the Leviathan."

"What?" I frowned. "But I need it to control the Swarm. You don't."

"You can always use a hivemind sac in a hatchery, or, hell, I'm pretty sure we still have that overlord with a hivemind sac from way back when. Or just bring an elite few and fight on your own."

"I guess," I conceded reluctantly. "But why do you want it?"

"Filled overlords are cramped. I've always been the one journeying away and suffering through it. Shakuras, Ulaan, every time I participate in a battle personally. It just doesn't seem fair."

"You could travel by drop pod," I offered.

Kerrigan chuckled. "Also cramped. Clearly, you've never taken a drop pod yourself."

Well, no, I hadn't. I sighed. "Fine, Kerrigan. You take the Leviathan. But then you should be the one to go the derelict Xel'Naga ship. I imagine there won't be much room for ground combat there, should something happen, so it's important to bring strong spacefaring units."

Kerrigan nodded. "Fine by me. That leaves you and Stukov with Xil and Typhon."

"If it's all the same to you, Cerebrate," Stukov spoke up. "I will obtain the piece on Xil. It appears to be the most likely to require combat, and I have been working on something… new, with my fellow infested UED soldiers and many of the Abathurs. I would like the chance to try it out. Make sure it works before I reveal it to you all."

I peered at Stukov, trying to discern what he was talking about. A new strain of Zerg? I couldn't be sure, but at any rate I saw no reason not to let him have his little field test. "Very well," I replied. "I will go to Typhon. Anything else?"

Kerrigan and Stukov shook their heads.

"Then we are dismissed. Let us reconvene on Char once we have our respective artifact pieces."


	26. Maw of the Void

When my overlords arrived at Tython, I immediately realized I was in trouble. Tython's star had started to go supernova. Its size, heat, and light were increasing exponentially, and the hemisphere of Typhon that faced its sun was slowly boiling away under the relentless solar assault. Obtaining the artifact piece was now on a serious time limit. It wouldn't be long before the star exploded and destroyed the whole planet upon which the artifact rested.

Fortunately, the signal pointed me towards the dark side of the planet, which was as yet untouched by the violent solar energies. Unfortunately, my minions could also detect unsubtle Protoss psionic signals in that area. Tal'Darim.

I couldn't just land at the artifact's location. I didn't have enough men to take down all those Tal'Darim. I needed to morph more. But I was on the clock.

I ordered a few mutalisks to quickly scout the area. When they encountered a resource-rich plateau mostly devoid of Tal'Darim, I had them clear the area and then landed my forces, immediately ordering drones to begin the morphing of a hive cluster. Far on the horizon, my flying scouts could spot the moving line of fire that marked the spot where the planet's rotation brought new land into direct contact with the sun's burning energies. I could possibly have found a better base location on the other side of the artifact from the wall of fire, but I didn't have enough time to be choosy.

I unloaded all my units onto the plateau and set about constructing more. The Tal'Darim knew of my presence and sent occasional attack waves at me, but their attention seemed focused on the impending wall of fiery doom. I would have been surprised they didn't just evacuate the planet, except it seemed entirely in character for the Tal'Darim to commit suicide in their attempts to keep Xel'Naga technology out of others' hands.

Problem was, if I had to fight my way through every Protoss between here and the artifact, I'd lose most of my forces. It'd be a toss-up whether I could even succeed. And I only had one shot at this. I needed to think of something more clever.

The air grew hotter around me, and I began to smell ozone burning. This hive cluster would be incinerated soon. I needed to move it, but I couldn't just lift off like I could when I was a Terran Commander working with Terran buildings. Zerg buildings were stuck to the creep they grew out of. If I had an expansion and a Nydus canal, I could at least move my minions to safety through the canal… wait. That was it! Abathur had evolved Zerg Nydus networks over the preceding years. Now, only the entrance needed to be on creep. A worm would burrow to wherever I wanted the exit to be.

A plan took shape in my mind. There was no time to lose. I ordered every flying unit to rise, even the overlords. I lifted them all back into orbit, out of reach of the Protoss photon cannons, taking care to keep the planet between them and the sun. I moved them to the area directly above the artifact's signal, evading Protoss interceptors and other flying units as best I could. Then I had them all descend.

My fliers were swiftly torn apart by the enormous number of Protoss defenses concentrated around the Xel'Naga temple that clearly housed the artifact. But many of the Tal'Darim foolishly targeted my overlords instead of my combat fliers, buying my mutalisks and other fliers enough time to carve out a space just large enough for a burrowing Nydus worm.

I gave the order. It took a while for the worm to burrow through the sunbaked ground to the location I'd indicated, but I micromanaged my fliers well, and I had taken the Tal'Darim by surprise, and that bought the worm enough time. The moment it emerged, all my ground forces poured out of it, and I followed personally soon after.

Almost all my overlords had died, so it was extremely difficult to keep control of my minions. Fortunately, half-feral zerg were all I really needed. My minions rampaged through the Protoss base. We were just in time; I could sense the pain of the hive cluster I had left behind as the moving wall of solar fire finally reached its outskirts and the creep began to boil. Under cover of the chaos I had created, I took a drone and infiltrated the temple, located the artifact piece, and extracted it. I'd been careful enough not to let every overlord die, so the drone, myself, and the nearest handful of units quickly boarded an overlord and blasted off into space, followed by every surviving flying unit I could command. The rest of the zerg I had brought or morphed I left to turn feral, distract the Protoss, and then die a fiery death.

…

When I returned to Char, I found Stukov waiting for me at our primary hive cluster.

"How did your field test go, Stukov?" I inquired after seeing to the safe delivery of my artifact piece to the evolution pit.

"Very well," Stukov responded, positively beaming. "I commandeered a giant laser drill the Moebius expedition had brought with them and used it to bore through the impassable Xel'Naga temple holding the artifact piece. The Tal'Darim were there, and tried to stop me, but I used armaments from the UED I had captured and infested, bunkers and siege tanks, to hold them off while the drill worked. Then I unleashed my grand new weapon, a truly unique marvel of Terran engineering combined with Zerg evolution. It succeeded beyond my wildest dreams, but I don't want to spoil the surprise. Next time you need a doomsday device, let me know, and you'll get to witness the power of what I have created first-hand."

I was intrigued. I was tempted to push the infested Terran to be clearer about his new weapon's capabilities, as one of the first rules of strategy in warfare is to always know what resources you have at your disposal. But I didn't think it could be harmful to let him have his little secret for now. But the other thing he said… "Sounds great, Stukov, but did I hear you correctly? You infested bunkers and siege tanks? How could you possibly infest machinery?"

"Simple," Stukov answered, a smug look in his eye. "If an Abathur applies enough zerg biomass, anything can be made a zerg unit, part of the hivemind. Add a nervous system and a motor system to a siege tank's swiveling gun, and you can telepathically command it to fire. Add a sensory system and it can detect when to fire on its own."

That… had never occurred to me. But it was brilliant. Perhaps I had been underestimating Stukov's tactical genius. "We don't even have to go that far," I realized with a start. "An infested terran pilot can pilot any vehicle or starship they could before they were infested. This whole time, we should have been making a point of capturing as much Terran armament as we could, rather than destroying it!"

Stukov's voice took on a cautionary tone. "Well, we don't have the factories to produce Terran bullets and explosives. The marines I infest always run out of ammunition after a skirmish or two. So it'd be a short term solution, assuming we can't reliably scavenge ammunition from Terran bases."

I frowned. "Could we imitate the Terrans and morph factories of our own?"

Stukov shook his head. "Zerg biomass can survive extreme temperatures, but not direct exposure to molten rock or fire, as would be required by the process of forging Terran armaments. We'd need an infrastructure based on metal, not flesh. Fortunately, Abathur and I solved that problem by designing my siege tanks to transform any available biomass into explosively acidic biomass, which they can then load into their cannons. They effectively shoot banelings." Stukov smiled proudly.

"Wow." I shook my head in amazement. "I see I have misjudged you. You have adapted well to the Swarm. Impressively done, Stukov. I look forward to personally witnessing your work on the battlefield."

Stukov's smile broadened. "You haven't even seen my most impressive innovations yet. But I thank you, Cerebrate. Now, how did your own battle go?"

…

I sensed Kerrigan returning by the time I finished relating the events of my own battle. I also sensed the Leviathan she had insisted on taking with her. It was hemorrhaging blood. Lots of it. Gallons and gallons of the massive beast's black life force spilling out into space, creating a trail of inky slime into the distance from which the creature had come. Even as I watched through the eyes of a nearby overlord, gravity forced some nearer drops of blood to glob together and begin to fall towards Char. There would be a blood rain over the hive cluster tonight.

"What the hell?" I shouted at Kerrigan telepathically. "What did you do to our ship?!"

Kerrigan's voice sounded exhausted. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking. Glad to hear you were worried about me."

I blinked. She had a point about my priorities. Still, there was a reason I wasn't particularly concerned about her. "No, you wouldn't be glad. That would mean I don't have faith in your abilities. Of course you're fine. How could you not be, with all your power? But just what happened to the ship?"

Kerrigan chuckled once. "Heh. You might be right. Still, that was a demanding fight. You should be grateful the Leviathan survived at all. I'll tell you about it in person."

"Alright."

A short while later, Kerrigan joined Stukov and I on the creep outside our main hive on Char.

"The Xel'Naga starship was covered in rip-field generators. And Tal'Darim," Kerrigan began without prompting.

I groaned. The Tal'Darim again? They had controlled literally every artifact piece except the one on Mar Sara. If they weren't so superstitious they probably could have assembled their pieces into something incredibly dangerous. At least this proved that, despite Narud's claim that Amon controlled the Protoss, he couldn't control the Tal'Darim. If he could, it would have been much easier to just get them to assemble the artifact, instead of us. Hell, if Amon possessed enough Xel'Naga technology to do something suitably godlike, the Tal'Darim's superstitions would probably have compelled them to obey him regardless. I paused. Which begs the question… why didn't he? Does he not have any Xel'Naga tech?

"You paying attention over there, Cowboy?" Kerrigan asked, waving her hand in front of my face and snapping me out of my musings.

I blinked. "Sorry, I… wait, 'Cowboy?'"

Kerrigan hesitated. "Err… nevermind," she said quickly. "One would think you'd care more about the state of your precious Leviathan."

Given my own slight embarrassment, I wasn't about to press her on hers. "Sorry, go on."

Kerrigan took a deep breath. "Well, as I said, the rip field generators slowly tore apart everything in range that wasn't shielded. The Tal'Darim were shielded, and were everywhere. There was no way I was going to be able to engage them to get at the artifact with traditional units. Zerglings and Scourge would get torn apart by the rip field generators almost instantly, and hydralisks, mutalisks, and everything else wouldn't survive much longer. I needed something massive, something that could get slowly torn apart on a molecular level without losing too much combat functioning. The Leviathan was all I had."

"Ultralisks?" I prompted.

Kerrigan shook her head. "Maybe once I finish evolving more of those Torrasques like the one we found on Braxis. My ultralisks could survive long enough to engage the Tal'Darim, but not long enough to cost-effectively destroy them. Especially with the carriers and void rays they had. Oh, and did I mention? They had a mothership."

"A mothership?" I echoed, confused.

"A truly massive Protoss vessel. Even with all the rip field generators and Protoss defenses, I would have broken the Tal'Darim easy if it weren't for the mothership. I'm not stupid; in preparation, I morphed several control groups of queens inside the Leviathan, shielded by it, to repeatedly transfuse the creature and keep it healthy. But the Mothership cloaked the Tal'Darim fleet like an arbiter, strafed us with millions of supercharged laser shots, and even created temporary black holes to trap the mutalisks I sent out in desperation. By the time I got through the Mothership's shields, every one of my queens had run out of energy and could no longer transfuse."

I frowned. "How did you survive?"

Kerrigan adopted a somber look. "I didn't. I speak to you now from beyond the grave."

What… my mind reeled. There's no way that's possible… and then Kerrigan burst into peals of throaty laughter.

"Hah!" Kerrigan announced triumphantly. "I actually got you with that. I wasn't sure if you'd so much as blink, but you should have seen the look on your face."

I breathed a sigh of relief, then rolled my eyes. "Real mature, Kerr," I muttered. At least she's happy.

"Eh, anyway," Kerrigan continued as though nothing had happened. "When the Leviathan started oozing blood everywhere, I reluctantly retreated. Warped out of the rip-fields. Then, get this, the Tal'Darim executor decided he wouldn't let me get away with my 'wanton sacrilege' and pursued me! Away from the rip field generators! Once he got close enough I deployed all my scourge and watched as they tore through his fleet. He didn't even have time to finish the dying curse he transmitted to me. After that, I warped back, destroyed the now unguarded rip field generators, and then retrieved the artifact piece. Not bad, huh?"

I smiled. "Sounds like his overconfidence was his downfall." I looked at Kerrigan pointedly.

Kerrigan noticed, and scowled. "You trying to say something about me, Cerebrate?"

"Perhaps," I allowed, but swiftly changed the subject. "Anyway, good job. We have all the artifact pieces now. We should take a few days to repair the Leviathan before we assemble them, in case we need to make a quick escape. But then we can begin the next phase of our plan."

Kerrigan nodded. "Perhaps you're right, Cerebrate. Things seem to be looking up."

It didn't take long for that to change.


	27. Shatter the Sky

Things were not looking up. While we were working alongside the Abathurs and queens to heal the Leviathan, a massive Terran force decided to invade. Considering how utterly we had destroyed the Terran militaries four years ago, I could not believe what I was seeing. How had Valerian managed to rebuild so many forces? A whole fleet of battlecruisers were diving towards our hive cluster, launching Terran droppods filled with legions of marines and mechs and other soldiers. Valerian must seriously want our artifact.

Fortunately, the Terrans weren't the only ones who had rebuilt. And they were now invading what was effectively the Zerg home world, where we had spent four years turning resources into minions without contestation. Most relevantly for the moment, I had built a massive nest of mutalisks inside the old Confederate orbital platforms. From within the hivemind sac, I ordered them to wake and intercept the Terran force.

A sprawling aerial battle erupted in Char's ash-filled sky. Mutalisks burned under unrelenting laser fire, while battlecruisers slowly melted away under the mutalisks' acidic attacks. It stopped some of the droppods from reaching the ground, but not enough.

This was shaping up to be a protracted battle. I needed to strategize. I paused to think, but my ruminations were soon interrupted by Kerrigan's voice as she psionically broadcast a radio signal for the Terrans to hear. "Do you think death is the worst thing that can happen to you here?" she asked mockingly. "Infestation is what's coming for you. Soon all will serve the swarm!"

I wasn't sure I appreciated her claiming that infestation was worse than death when the Abathur-induced kind, at least, was actually just awesome. But I supposed as a scare tactic to demoralize and intimidate the Terrans, her message was useful.

I reached out through the hive mind to sense what my zerg minions sensed and try to get a read on the Terrans' plans. The droppods that made it to the surface were regrouping, clearing out a defensible location and constructing bunkers and missile turrets. Attack parties were being sent out to the location of nearby droppods to recover them before any Zerg could discover them and attack. It was too coordinated. Either Valerian had learned a great deal of strategy since our last encounter four years ago, or there was another Terran general to blame for these Terrans' effectiveness.

"Izsha," I called out to the Leviathan's tentacle-woman telepathically. "Have you been monitoring their communication? Who's leading them?"

"Yes, Cerebrate," came a strained reply. The damage to the Leviathan coupled with the stress of keeping track of the massive battle must be taking its toll on her. "Their primary military strategist is General Horace Warfield."

Warfield! I remembered him. He had been a Confederate commander with an excellent reputation for strategy, up until he deserted following the nuking of Korhal. He became a wanted man, then. I remember feeling quite impressed with his courage when I first heard of him. I had disagreed with the decision to nuke Korhal as well, believing it too high a cost for too little strategic value, but I hadn't had the gumption to desert the military over it, not when it had been so good to me. Makes sense that the Mengsk family would take him in, after that.

Warfield was dangerous. He needed to be taken out, fast. "Where are Warfield's radio signals originating from?" I asked Izsha.

"One of the Terran battlecruisers," Izsha replied, telepathically indicating the battlecruiser in question.

I immediately ordered all my mutalisks to target that battlecruiser. "Let's see how you deal with this, Warfield," I muttered to myself.

While I waited, another thought occurred to me. "Izsha, is there any indication that Dr. Narud is among the Terrans invading?"

"No," she replied. "I detect no radio signals mentioning him. These seem to be purely Dominion forces, unaccompanied by the Moebius Foundation or other paramilitary groups."

I nodded telepathically. "Thank you," I replied, before psionically messaging one of the slugs in the evolution pit. "Abathur. Assemble the artifact. The battle will be the perfect cover for its energies. Should buy us some time before Narud shows up."

"I obey," Abathur replied. "Warning: investigations indicate artifact requires time to gather energy before use."

"That's fine," I answered. "Get it started. Monitor it carefully and keep me informed of any developments." I returned my attention to the mutalisks. Warfield had apparently ordered all nearby battlecruisers to defend his, and many of my mutalisks were falling under the onslaught of laser blasts. They were making slow progress eating through Warfield's heavily armored hull. "Change of plans," I muttered as I took control of the mutalisks. "Target the engines."

I telepathically micromanaged the mutalisks as their acidic projectiles melted each of Warfield's engines in turn. The battlecruiser began to fall, losing its ability to thrust against Char's gravitational pull. My mission accomplished, I ordered my mutalisks to retreat before they were eradicated, and engage in safer hit-and-runs against more isolated targets.

As Warfield's battlecruiser plummeted towards the planet, Izsha announced and broadcast a transmission. "Mayday, mayday," General Warfield's voice played in my head. "My ship has taken terrible, terrible damage."

Finally, it crashed into the planet's surface, a fair distance away from the Terrans' makeshift base. I ordered Nydus worms to its location. I couldn't let Warfield be rescued.

As my minions poured through the Nydus worms and rushed to the crashed battlecruiser, they were met by a storm of gunfire. A surprising number of marines and scvs had survived, and they were hard at work cannibalizing the cruiser to build defensive fortifications.

Another transmission emitted from the battlecruiser, garbled and filled with static. "We're holding position… we need support... soon."

It would take a while to push through and finish off the Terrans in the cruiser, and all I really needed to do was keep Warfield from being able to communicate with his men. I turned my attention to the makeshift base. They had built up a sizeable force, and were clearly preparing to rush to their general's defense. My task now was to stop them.

Suddenly, an explosion wracked one of the orbital platforms. Part of the sprawling nest of mutalisks went up in smoke.

I wrenched my attention from the surface up to the platforms. Several battlecruisers had broken off from the main fleet and were systematically torching the platforms, targeting the old Confederate reactors to create nuclear explosions.

"Stukov," I telepathically contacted my lieutenant. "Keep the Terrans from reaching Warfield. I have to try to save the platforms."

"As you will," Stukov agreed. "This will be the perfect opportunity to showcase what I have been working on."

I grunted, and began strategizing. Battlecruisers were powerful, and my mutalisk count was swiftly diminishing. I didn't have enough hatcheries on the platform to raise a ground to air defense. What options did I have?

A thought struck me. "Izsha, what is the status of the Leviathan?"

"Still wounded, but able to fight. I must urge caution against sending it into the fray, however. In its weak condition it could easily be destroyed."

Another explosion wracked the platforms.

I shook my head. "We don't have much choice. If the Terrans win the battle for the skies, they could win the war. Send in the Leviathan, and every surviving aerial unit we have."

"I obey," Izsha replied.

The Leviathan and the remainder of my tattered fleet arrived at the platforms just as a third explosion demolished another part of my nest.

"Destroy them!" I commanded telepathically. Hundreds of scourge rushed at the battlecruisers, most getting picked off by laser blasts before they could get close, but some reaching hulls and delivering their destructive payloads. Surviving mutalisks weaved through the enemies and even a few leftover devourers spat out their acid bombs. But even as some battlecruisers broke apart, others struck back, undaunted. The Leviathan would have its work cut out for it.

Massive tentacles extended from the Leviathan, piercing through cruiser after cruiser. All the while, the Leviathan suffered a massive barrage of laser blasts. It was shaping up to be a close fight. The Terran fleet was depleting, but every destroyed battlecruiser did so much damage before it fell.

Suddenly, Stukov's telepathic cry broke into my concentration. "I give you… the Apocalisk!" Then he began to cackle.

I turned my attention to his forces, just in time to see a massive ultralisk unburrow and rush at the grounded Terran army. It was covered in Terran armor and armaments. It launched missiles at the Terran mechs, even as its enormous ultralisk blades sliced through marines like they were covered in soft flesh instead of high tech armor.

So that was his surprise. Impressive. Without Warfield's leadership, the Terran army began panicking at the sight of the armored beast. Stukov was routing them. Much better.

I turned my attention to the aerial fight. That was not going so well. The Leviathan was oozing blood, coating the platform beneath it with the oily dark liquid. Other battlecruisers were warping in to reinforce their destroyed brethren.

It wasn't going to be enough. The Leviathan would fall. Fine. We could build another. "Take as many of them with you as you can, Izsha," I commanded.

"It has been an honor, Cerebrate," Izsha replied solemnly.

"Likewise, Izsha."

I watched as the Leviathan continued ripping through battlecruiser after battlecruiser, but it only had so many tentacles. Finally, the laser barrage destroyed too much, and the Leviathan could no longer hold itself together. It broke apart, spewing organs everywhere. Enormous pieces of flesh crashed into the platform below.

The Leviathan, the magnificent creature that had been so central to my plans ever since it had first spawned... was now dead. I was only granted a short moment of silence to honor it before I was interrupted by more bad news.

"Cerebrate," an Abathur contacted me telepathically. "Problem. Terran incursion into evolution pit. Many Abathurs dead. Xel'Naga artifact stolen."

 _Of course,_ I thought to myself.


	28. Belly of the Beast

"The artifact was in the heart of our hive cluster!" I replied to Abathur's announcement. "How did we not sense them coming?"

"Terrans cloaked. Insufficient detectors."

"Ghosts," I muttered to myself. "Guess some are still alive after all."

"One powerful. Untenable to oppose. Psionic potential second only to Queen of Blades. Recommend infestation at earliest opportunity."

I whistled softly. A ghost nearly as powerful as Kerrigan would be a welcome addition to our little band. But first, I needed to stop them from bringing the artifact to Narud.

"Where are they now, Abathur?"

"Artifact pulses detectable. Escaping hive cluster."

"Get an overseer and every nearby minion over there immediately!" I instructed, even as I searched the hive mind to try to find the units to usher the commands myself.

"Caution: artifact charging. Mistake may unleash energy wave. Would destroy Zerg cells, not alter them. Terrans unaffected."

"What? How can the energy only affect Zerg?"

"Zerg cells sensitive to certain frequencies subsonic to Terrans. Flaw built into Zerg by—"

"By the Xel'Naga," I finished for him. "Of course. Otherwise you would have evolved us past such a weakness long ago.

"Accurate," Abathur confirmed.

I found the units I was looking for and ordered them to recover the artifact. "Well, we don't have much choice. The only thing we can use to try to get that artifact back is a lot of zerg cells."

…

With Stukov taking care of the ground battle and the Leviathan having bought me some time in the space battle, I focused all my attention on the units I was now sending scurrying across the creep towards the fleeing ghosts. I took on the eyes of the overseer, seeing what he saw as the first zerg wave advanced on the squad of ghosts.

Gunshots rang out. Half of the wave dropped dead, sniped before they could get close. Then the rest of the wave was upon them. The ghosts were still cloaked, but the overseer was specially evolved to see through their stealth technology. Now, the overseer's sensations were being shared through the hive mind to allow the zerglings and hydralisks to precisely attack the otherwise invisible ghosts.

I'd deployed ghosts myself, back when I was in beta squadron. I knew their capabilities. They were glass cannons: deadly at range, but easy to destroy once you got to them. That's why I was surprised when, once the zerglings reached the ghosts, the ghosts didn't start dying. Instead, there was a burst of light and a massive cracking sound, and every zergling collapsed to the ground in pieces.

I didn't understand what had happened. All that I had sensed from the zerglings before they died was a sudden sharp stabbing pain.

I moved in the hydralisks. They shot many spines at the ghosts, some puncturing their high-tech suits. Then one ghost ran towards a cluster of hydralisks and raised a weapon, giving me a good look at it. It wasn't a sniper rifle.

As another blast of light and sound announced the destruction of that group of hydralisks, I cried out, "What kind of ghost wields a SHOTGUN?!"

This ghost had to be the powerful one Abathur mentioned. I examined the shotgun-wielder more closely. Most ghosts shaved their heads and hid their faces behind a menacing mask. Not this ghost. The face was that of a young woman with a determined expression. In fact, she could have been the spitting image of Kerrigan before her infestation, except that, instead of fiery red hair hiked up in a ponytail, this ghost sported bright blonde hair hiked up in a ponytail. The resemblance was uncanny. Was a ponytail the key to psionic potential or something?

The rest of the ghosts quickly sniped the remaining hydralisks and continued on their way. Clearly, I needed to adopt a different strategy. I held back the second wave of zerglings and hydralisks, which had finally gathered. They would just meet the same fate if I sent them in. Instead, I looked around for an idle unit that could face ghosts.

Bingo! There was an ultralisk cavern nearby that had not yet deployed all its ultralisks to the front lines. I ordered them to attack the ghosts.

As I thought about what other resources I had at my disposal, I realized I had not heard from Kerrigan in a while. I cast about mentally for her, and finally found her psionic signal… underground.

"Kerrigan?" I contacted her. "What are you doing?"

She didn't respond for a moment, then she spoke up, breathing heavily. "Valerian sent an elite squad into the nydus network to try to collapse the tunnels and kill our worms. I just finished slaughtering them. Took a while. This one ghost was ridiculously powerful. Biggest ghost I've ever seen, and yet also nearly as agile as me. And I didn't even have detection down here! He's dead now, though."

"Impressive work, Kerrigan," I complimented her.

I sensed her nod, accepting the praise as her due.

"He... uh, he didn't happen to have his hair in a ponytail, did he?" I blurted out. I didn't really think that was significant, but now that the idea was in my head, I was too curious to help myself.

"Uhh… no?" Kerrigan answered quizzically. "He had dreadlocks."

Maybe it was just long hair, then? Did the Confederacy force its ghosts to shave their heads to limit their power? No, this was a silly train of thought. I chided myself.

"Right, well, would you mind riding one of those nydus worms you just saved back up here? Another squad of ghosts stole the artifact. We need it back."

Kerrigan sighed. "Of course. I'm on my way."

"Thanks."

Turning my attention back to the fleeing ghosts, I realized they had made it out of the hive cluster, skirting around my defenses and reaching the volcanic plain that led to the Terran base. Three dropships were waiting for them. I didn't have time to wait for Kerrigan.

"Charge!" I commanded the ultralisks, and all six of them rushed at the small group of ghosts.

The snapping sounds of the ghosts' sniper rifles rang out. With incredible discipline, they all targeted the same ultralisk, aiming for more vulnerable features like the eyes. It collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash.

 _I'm amazed they even got one_ , I thought to myself, but now the other five were upon them. I heard the booming of that one ghost's shotgun, but most of the shrapnel would be harmlessly deflected by my ultralisks' chitinous plates.

Then I heard a much more pleasing sound through the ears of my ultralisks: a ghost's death wail. (Ghosts were usually much more dramatic about dying than marines.) The surviving ghosts were running, trying to get away from the ultralisks. But my ultralisks could easily keep pace with them. Another ghost howled in pain as an ultralisk's kaiser blade chopped through him. Victory was within reach.

Suddenly, the ghosts all disappeared. Cloaked. I turned to my overseer, only to realize I could no longer feel it in the hive mind. But that was strange, because I had not felt it die. I looked at the overseer's former position through the eyes of an ultralisk. It was still there! It just was not responding.

Then it moved on its own accord, deeper into our hive cluster. It was… scouting? Then I realized. This was like what I did when I reclaimed feral zerg. The long-haired ghost had telepathically dominated the overseer to prevent us from detecting them. She really was powerful.

I halfheartedly ordered another overseer over, but there was no way it could arrive in time to stop the ghosts. I had not expected to need this much detection, and now I was paying for my failure. But really, ghosts were specially trained elites that originated from one academy on one currently infested world. Many died when the Dominion fell and many more died when the Confederacy fell. Four years was not enough time to train more, even if Valerian had somehow discovered the secrets of how to do so. How were there still so many survivors?

The ghosts quickly boarded the dropships, stolen artifact in hand. It was a large artifact, but one of the masked ghosts seemed to be cybernetically enhanced, as he was strong enough to carry it while also extending his cloaking field over it.

A nydus worm erupted from the ground, shrieking as Kerrigan leapt out of its cavernous mouth. She rushed towards the dropship, quickly recognizing the situation. Bolts of psionic energy leapt from her fingertips, striking and damaging the dropships as she chased after them.

I called for reinforcements. Nearby zerglings, hydralisks, and a few surviving mutalisks rushed after the fleeing ships.

It was close. The ships had almost crossed the no man's land when Kerrigan tore apart the first. The remaining two were heavily damaged. It looked like they weren't going to make it.

The second one exploded.

Suddenly, the last dropship stopped and a massive energy burst erupted from its damaged hull. It was blindingly bright, overwhelming my senses and stunning me for a second. When I could feel again, all my reinforcing zerg had disappeared. Every zerg cell was gone.

Except for Kerrigan. She was screaming in pain, her exoskeleton seared and damaged, rolling on the volcanic ground. It hurt me just to feel a little of what she felt through the hivemind. She soon picked herself up off the floor and took off running back to the hive cluster and the healing transfusions of our queens.

The last dropship got away. I watched from a distant overlord as the blonde ghost disembarked safely inside the Terran base with her prize. Several SCVs met her and took the artifact, setting it up on a nearby plateau. By this time, their base was incredibly fortified.

That was it, then. We'd lost the artifact.


	29. All In

I stared silently at the Terran base for a moment. Then I shook myself out of my melancholy. I wasn't dead just yet.

"What are they doing, Abathur?" I asked telepathically, referring to the SCVs currently poking and prodding at the Xel'Naga artifact.

"Calibrating," he answered. "Artifact energy will annihilate even Queen when complete."

I groaned. "I suppose it was too much to hope they'd prefer to transform us into Terrans rather than kill us. It's not like we were friends with Valerian before infestation."

"Can reverse, finish work," Abathur offered. "Must reach artifact."

I nodded. "That's our only chance. Easier said than done, though."

"Cerebrate!" Stukov's voice chimed in. "The Terran fleet has descended upon my forces. They are rescuing Warfield. We must flee."

I swore. "Guess they finished destroying my remaining mutalisk nests. Regroup with Kerrigan and I, Stukov."

"Affirmative."

. . .

Soon, a healed Kerrigan, Stukov, several Abathurs, Zagara (who had finally arrived with reinforcements from Moria after sensing our attack), and myself all regrouped outside the main hive. By this time, the whole of the Terran fleet held position above the artifact, and they had several layers of defensive bunkers and siege tanks protecting their base.

"This is it, gang," I began. "They finish charging that artifact, and we're dead. We destroy enough of them to get an Abathur to the artifact, and we win. There's no second chances. We flee, they'll just pursue us. We have no other choice. It's time for an all-in attack. No more reserves. Call all of our forces here, from across the planet and the sector, anything that could conceivably arrive before that artifact finishes charging. We're gonna launch everything at them, as soon as possible. We'll kill them, or they'll kill us. Understood?"

The Zerg leaders uttered various sounds of acknowledgement. "What's our strategy?" asked an angry Kerrigan, a fire simmering beneath her eyes.

"They have air control," I replied, "but thanks to you we still control the underground. We'll be shuttling reinforcements here through our Nydus worms. We can't attack in just one massive wave, or they'll detonate the artifact prematurely, like they did from the dropship, and we'll lose all our minions. So we'll attack in several waves, one after the other, eating at their defenses until they cannot withstand us any longer. We'll each oversee one of the waves and retreat when things get too hot. Once we force them to use the smaller artifact pulse, all of us who weren't wounded by it will attack at once, while it's still recharging. Understood?"

Kerrigan nodded. "My forces will go first," she declared. "Like Stukov, I've been working on an evolution or two myself. They may not be ready, but there'll be no time for more testing if we lose here."

"Very well." I took a deep breath. "Positions, everyone. It's time to write history.

...

I waited as long as I dared, giving us as much time as possible to gather our forces. Finally, I gave the order. "Attack!"

Suddenly, Nydus worms erupted all around the Terran base, and Kerrigan's forces immediately began spewing forth and rushing towards the Terran fortifications, accompanied by Kerrigan herself. Siege tanks thundered as hundreds of shells launched at her swarm, followed by the buzzing of bunker gunfire and battlecruiser laser blasts.

Kerrigan's zerglings were swiftly torn apart, but her ultralisks stood firm. They were the prototypes Kerrigan has mentioned. She had been impressed with the Torrasque on Braxis, and apparently had worked with an Abathur to recreate its power in her own ultralisks.

Something in its design had changed along the way, however. Under the persistent hail of gunfire, even the Torrasques started to fall. But instead of crashing to the ground as a lifeless corpse, the damaged Torrasques pulled their bleeding limbs close to their body and formed a cocoon around themselves. Within that cocoon their body regenerated, and after a few minutes, out popped the Torrasque again, fully healed.

It was a powerful tactic. The Terrans had never seen such a creature before, and they didn't realize what was happening at first. While some Torrasques cocooned and regenerated, healthy Torrasques rushed forward and occupied the Terrans' attention until they were forced to retreat and regenerate, at which point they were replaced by the newly repaired Torrasques they had defended.

The Torrasques had sacrificed some of their damaging potential for the sake of this incredible defense, however, so they didn't make too much progress in destroying the Terran fortifications on their own. Following the Torrasques, however, a constant stream of zerglings and hydralisks charged at the Terran fortifications, taking advantage of the distraction the giant hulking Torrasques presented.

Furthermore, Kerrigan herself fought viciously, withstanding dozens of tank shells and throwing out psionic storms of awesome destructive power.

Against a less experienced commander, this strategy alone would have been enough to overwhelm them, or at least force them to use the artifact again if they could. But the rescued Warfield realized what was happening surprisingly quickly. The tanks swiveled, their massive cannons targeting the Torrasque cocoons now, rupturing them before the mutated ultralisks could regenerate. The bunkers ignored the massive beasts bearing down on them and targeted any zerglings or hydralisks in range. And the battlecruisers… the battlecruisers rained relentless hellfire down across the battlefield.

It was too much. Finally, Kerrigan retreated with any surviving Torrasques, clutching at cracked and bleeding parts of her exoskeleton.

A sizable amount of the Terran fortifications had been destroyed. But a lot remained, including the entirety of their fleet.

"Zagara," I messaged telepathically. "You're up."

"Our enemies will feel the wrath of the Swarm," she replied.

More Nydus worms erupted from the ground, and hundreds, no, thousands of zerg began to pour from the worms' depths. Zagara had taken a liking to one of Abathur's recent evolutions: the baneling. A seemingly endless stream of the explosive creatures rolled steadily towards the Terran fortifications.

Accompanying them were towering masses of flesh the Abathurs on Moria had named 'abberations'. They were built from scavenged biomass from animals and dead Terrans haphazardly thrown together and infested into an enormous and tough creature. I doubt I would have approved of their creation had I been present on Moria at the time, but as long as they were not created from Terrans who could still be infested normally, I couldn't reject using them. They were too effective.

The aberrations shielded the banelings, their towering bodies soaking up the tank shells, providing cover for the banelings to reach the Terran base intact.

In addition, hundreds of scourge followed the army, streaming from all over the map towards the Terran fleet.

It didn't take much more than a direct tank shot or battlecruiser blast to destroy a baneling or scourge. But there were just so many banelings and scourge. The Terrans couldn't stop them all.

Once they reached the base, the explosions started. The destruction happened so quickly, I couldn't keep track of it, but once the dust settled, a significant portion of the Terran fortifications had been blown away. Pools of acid swirled where garrisoned bunkers once had stood, and many battlecruisers lay crashed on the ground in balls of fire and twisted steel.

It was over much more quickly than Kerrigan's assault had been, and yet had been even more effective.

"Good job, Zagara," I communicated telepathically. "Stukov, what do you have for me?"

"The Apocalisk is repaired and ready for another round," the infested Terran replied. While he spoke, the Apocalisk unburrowed and joined infested vehicles and starships amassing at the edge of the enemy base. "And a while back I recovered something from deep space. The infestation process isn't fully complete, but it's far enough along to help here. I give you… the Alexander!"

A massive battlecruiser warped on top of the Terran base, followed closely by Stukov's infested army charging in. I recognized the battlecruiser. It was DuGalle's flagship, where Stukov had spent so much of his time when human. Now it was covered in zerg biomass, attacking with both Terran laser cannons and Leviathan-like weaponized tentacles. It was ridiculously armored, and took up all the Terran fleet's attention while Stukov's infested vehicles and starships rushed in firing on the bunkers and tanks.

The hole in the defenses left by Kerrigan and Zagara's attacks gave Stukov some room to maneuver. The battle lasted a while, Stukov's forces destroying Terran fortification after Terran fortification, before Warfield's forces finally dealt enough damage to force Stukov to retreat before he lost everything. The Alexander warped away just in time to avoid engine failure and a violent crash, and the Apocalisk similarly burrowed and retreated, bleeding profusely.

The enemy was hurting just as much. And now it was my turn. While the others had attacked, I'd been preparing.

"Are you ready, Abathurs?" I inquired, asking all of the many Abathurs hiding in the hive cluster's main evolution pit.

"Affirmative," they chorused.

"Then launch the attack!"

With the Abathurs' help, at one point over the previous couple years I'd evolved a new miniature zerg organism to implant in larger organisms: a symbiote. My goals had been primarily medical and recreational: a symbiote controlled by an Abathur could regulate hormones, harden carapaces, and even take excess biomass from the environment and use it to repair its host. Still, the theoretical combat advantages were obvious. Time to see if the theory could translate into reality.

Nydus worms, dozens of them, erupted directly underneath the Terran base, and immediately began spitting out streams of symbioted roaches and hydralisks. They were quickly followed by a cloud of overlords flying into the base, dropping the symbioted zerg they carried.

It was overwhelming for the Terrans. My minions were everywhere, and they weren't going down easy, as the symbiotes would repair most of the damage their hosts took. The Terrans steadily lost ground, bunkers, battlecruisers, siege tanks, and repairing scvs alike all succumbing to my onslaught.

Suddenly a massive energy wave burst from the base, spreading out and annihilating every Zerg in the area. All was quiet again in the Terran base, save for the crackling of the fires.

They'd used the artifact. My forces were depleted, but now the enemy was vulnerable.

I gave the order. "Now! Hit them with everything we have left!"

Roaches, hydralisks, zerglings, banelings, nydus worms, ultralisks, lurkers, infested, even drones, overlords, and, most terrifying of all, Kerrigan herself - all rushed into the damaged base.

If the Terrans could weather this onslaught, that would be it. We would have no more forces to throw at them. They'd win.

But they couldn't weather the onslaught. Their base was in shambles, and even this small remnant of my army was overwhelming. Kerrigan alone would have been difficult for them to stop. Fully healed once more, she leapt from tank to marine to scv, sinking her winged blades deep into flesh and steel, ripping apart battlecruisers and everything else in sight with vicious storms of psionic energy. The tide of zerg rushed over the Terran base, leaving only ruin and destruction in its wake.

Finally, Kerrigan reached the pedestal where the Terrans had placed the artifact. Whatever scientists or SCVs had been working on it had fled. Kerrigan walked up to the artifact calmly, paused, and then spoke up, trepidation apparent in her voice. "Guys? Didn't they just discharge the energy? Why does this thing feel ready to explode?"

An Abathur spoke up. "Premature energy discharge miniscule relative to potential. Must activate immediately. Alternative eradication of Char-based Zerg. Tunneling."

A nearby overlord began to spill creep onto the charred ground beneath it, and in seconds an Abathur erupted from the newly-moistened ground. It was an evolution of normal Zerg burrowing the Abathurs had been working on, dubbed "deep tunneling." The speed at which Abathur could traverse the underground using this new evolution was ridiculous, especially considering his bulbous body built for manipulating DNA, not crushing rocks.

Abathur slithered rapidly over to the artifact, placing his spindly hands all over it. "Recalibrating," he announced.

"Oh no you don't!" cried a woman's voice, and Abathur disappeared in a sudden burst of light and sound. Vaporized.

It was Miss Shotgun Ghost. She uncloaked, her bright blonde ponytail waving proudly in the ash-ridden wind, staring defiantly at Kerrigan. "I want you to know the name of the woman who will end you, monster. I am Nova Terra. My orders are to keep you away until that artifact finishes charging. I will not fail."

Kerrigan screamed and leapt at Nova, bladed wings outstretched. The ghost cloaked, and Kerrigan met only empty air. A shot rang out as Nova emerged nearby and fired her shotgun at Kerrigan.

I swore. "Burrow another Abathur over there immediately!" I ordered. Then I commanded every nearby Zerg to help deal with Nova, including multiple overseers.

Kerrigan screamed and I felt some of her pain as another shotgun blast pierced her exoskeleton. "You will pay!" she shouted as she leapt at Nova again. She should have gotten the ghost, but Nova… teleported? Yeah, she was in reach at one moment and far away the next. That wasn't cloaking. That was teleporting. But how? I thought only the Protoss knew the secrets of teleportation.

No matter. This game had to end. I ordered several of my minions to stand between Nova and the artifact. A replacement Abathur swiftly unburrowed behind my makeshift barrier and began to work on the artifact. Meanwhile, I threw waves of disposable minions at the ghost, trying to keep her attention.

The crack of the shotgun announced the deaths of a full control group of zerglings and hydralisks, even as Nova teleported again to avoid Kerrigan's pounce. She was staring at the barrier, I could tell, trying to find a weak point, a place where she could teleport across without immediately dying. She would find none.

Another control group of minions died in a flash of heat and light. Nova's attention was divided too much. Kerrigan sensed her distraction as she glanced again at the barrier of ultralisks, lurkers, and other zerg, and took advantage of it.

Kerrigan roared and threw out enormous tendrils of psionic energy, transforming the very creep and volcanic rock underneath her feet, pulling them up in strips and spikes around Nova. Nova did not sense what was happening in time to teleport. The strips of infested rock pulled her towards Kerrigan like a grasping claw, even as the creep-covered stone spikes erupted from the ground, penetrating her suit and flesh. "Aaaaah!" Nova screamed in pain as she was impaled through the legs, arms, and back by the spikes, pinned in place.

Kerrigan sauntered up to her and reached out her hand towards the face of the grimacing ghost biting back tears. "Fool girl. I would kill you now, but infestation awaits you. I will enjoy seeing your resistance broken."

"Zero time remaining," the Abathur at the artifact cried out. "Calibrations barely sufficient. Must activate immediately or face annihilation."

"Wait," Kerrigan shouted. "She'll get away!" But even as Kerrigan protested, the telltale wave of blue exploded from the artifact. I didn't even have time to sense the pain of the remaining zerg minions around the artifact before their flesh was vaporized and their consciousnesses blinked out of existence.

Kerrigan and Nova were hit by it too and faded from my awareness, and the wave kept coming, annihilating everything in its path. It approached my hive cluster. Had the Abathur succeeded? He said his calibrations were "barely sufficient," but could he have been wrong? No time left to doubt - here it comes!

The blue wave of energy smashed into me and everything immediately went black.


	30. Lab Rat

I felt strange. Incomplete. Like part of me was missing. I groggily raised my head. The rocky terrain was moving. No, I was moving. I was… being carried? I looked around. I was held in the robotic arms of an SCV. I didn't recognize the pilot. Strange. Was this bad? I couldn't remember. I felt so tired. I decided I'd worry about this later. I just needed to… rest… for a minute.

When next I regained consciousness, I felt only steel sprawling out beneath me. I slowly raised myself to a sitting position. It was dark. I felt alone.

A voice spoke, startling me. "Welcome back… Magistrate." It sounded…

"Valerian?" I asked the darkness. I rubbed my eyes and peered into the distance, but I could see nothing.

"I've been wondering if you'd ever wake up," Valerian answered. "And also if I should kill you. Millions of good Terran lives ended because of you."

I blinked. What was he... oh. Right. The memories came back blurry and unfocused, as though from a long-past dream. I could only recall bits and pieces. But I did remember… I had… killed Arcturus with my bare hands… and wings. I had had wings. There was a lot to take in.

"Still, you never had psionic power. You'll be easier to contain than Kerrigan, and we might learn much about infestation and the Xel'Naga artifact from studying you. Make no mistake, though. Once we have learned all we can from you, I will personally oversee your execution."

For some reason, that didn't scare me as much as I would have expected. But something else he said did. "Kerrigan? Where is Kerrigan?"

"Oh, she's here too. Awake and imprisoned. Her psionic outbursts make her difficult to contain, but if we can learn how to cure infestation from studying you two, it will all be worth it. We could finally provide hope to the millions of Terrans whose very free will you took away. Mar Sara. Moria. Even the UED. Some of us were worried we would be next, after that defeat on Char four years ago. How sporting of you to wait and give us a fighting chance again. Too bad this time you lost."

He spoke of infestation… I remembered the chrysalis. It hurt, my body reshaping itself, dark visions of wings and tortured faces… but when I came out I was… happy. Connected, somehow, to the universe. And immortal! Fearless! That's right, I remembered now. Infestation was the best thing to ever happen to me. Not like now, when I felt so weak in both mind and body, and, without the hivemind, so very alone.

"You're wrong about infestation," I called out. "It's not a curse. It's a blessing. It doesn't take away free will. It enhances it. Gives you more information before you make your choices, all the information received by anyone else in the entire Zerg hivemind! Internal conflicts are impossible, as is death of old age! You should be begging me to become infested!"

Valerian didn't respond for a moment. Then, "I am surprised to hear you say that. Perhaps the Zerg infestation is not as purged from your cells as we had hoped. But my scientists have assured me that the only remaining Zerg cells in your system are dead ones, like the ones that make up your… hair. Could more have survived? Or does even the Terran you believe that? In any case, the truth will come out eventually. Testing will begin in one hour. Prepare yourself."

"Wait, Valerian. What happened to the Swarm?" I called out quickly. Had Abathurs survived? Zagara? Stukov?

I received no answer. I was alone in the dark.

…

By the time an hour had passed (though it had felt like four) I had thoroughly explored my cell on my hands and knees. It was small and metal, with a blanket in one corner and a smelly hole in the floor in another corner and nothing else.

I had also explored my own body. It was a very strange experience. I had skin again, not a carapace, and I couldn't get over how soft I felt. Like a dull knife could just… cut right through me. It was more comfortable, because my body would adapt to the floor instead of retaining its shape against it, but it also made me feel incredibly vulnerable.

My wings were gone, and I felt now as I imagine other Terrans feel upon losing an arm or leg. Part of me, a very useful part of me, was missing.

I had a stomach again, and it rumbled with hunger. As a Zerg, I would have just felt a little weaker without creep. Now, I needed Terran food.

But my hair, as Valerian had hinted, was unchanged. Still consisted of a multitude of short black little tendrils sprouting up from my scalp like wilting grass. Shame. It felt rough and twisted compared to my new softer body. Might have been nice to feel real hair again. Couldn't even remember the last time I had.

But my ruminations on my new state of being were finally interrupted by an outpouring of light as one of the walls of my cell slid into the ground.

I blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the brightness. Finally, I made out two heavily armored marines standing in the doorway. Where once I could have killed them without a second thought, now their size and suits rendered them undefeatable.

"Come with us," one of them said gruffly.

I walked unsteadily out of my cell and followed them. No way I could escape. My new fleshy body would just get riddled with bullet holes if I tried. They knew that.

We walked calmly down empty corridors to a bright chamber with walls consisting of thick glass. They ordered me into it, closed the door, and left. I made out Valerian and a couple Terrans in lab coats watching me from a room near the top of one of the glass walls.

"How do you hope to study me from within this glass box?" I called up. "I thought you'd be taking cell samples, not watching me like a zoo animal."

"Oh, we already took all the cell samples we could want," Valerian replied, his voice filtering through loudspeakers implanted in the glass of my chamber near his room. "This is the test we've needed you awake for. Can you sense it, Magistrate?"

"Sense what?" I replied, looking around the room. Then I saw it. A zerg drone. I began walking closer. It was huge. That was the weakest of the zerg units, and it could still have torn me apart if it wanted, unarmored as I was.

Fortunately, the base instincts that drones reverted to when they went feral did not include instincts for combat. As long as I didn't suddenly transform into a patch of minerals, I would be safe. I would not have been able to tell Valerian this explicitly, but I knew it on some deeper level, so I approached the drone without fear.

I reached up my hand and touched the drone's side, feeling its hardened carapace under my palm. Never before had I felt a zerg body with a Terran hand. It felt rough, wild. Quite unlike the feeling of home I would have had as a Zerg Cerebrate.

I reached out with my mind, trying to interact with the drone's. Trying to form a hivemind connection, to read its surface thoughts, to send a telepathic order, or do anything, really. I couldn't. The drone's mind was impenetrable, and I didn't feel at all like I had when I possessed the psionic capability of commanding the Zerg.

"Try to order it to mutate into a hatchery," Valerian offered.

I shook my head. "No. I can't anymore. I don't have the psionic power. It can't hear me, and I can't hear it."

There was a pause. I looked up at Valerian's room to see him arguing about something with his scientists. Then he approached the microphone again. "Very well. Our instruments collaborate your story. Marines, escort the former Magistrate back to his room. We'll try Kerrigan next."

As I walked back to my cell, I realized that I recognized the symbol on the marines' armor. It wasn't the Dominion emblem. It was the sign of the Umojan Protectorate. The last surviving independent Terran force in the sector, what with the Kel-Morians all being infested now. That suggested that enough of the Dominion military had been destroyed on Char that Valerian had been forced to ask the Umojans for help. And that meant we were probably in Umojan space.

How were Kerrigan and I going to get back to Char?

…

An hour or so later, I heard and felt an explosion rock the facility, and an alarm began to blare in the distance.

"Is anyone there?" I called out. "What's going on?"

No one replied. I sat there in the darkness listening to the far-off roaring of the alarm for who knows how long, wondering if the facility was under attack, and if so, by whom.

Finally, my door opened. Light streamed in, and as I squinted up, I made out a female silhouette in the doorway.

"There you are," Kerrigan said. "Smart of Valerian to keep us on opposite sides of the facility. Come on, Magis. It's time to go."

I slowly stood up and wobbled out the door, my eyes finally adjusting enough to get a good look at Kerrigan. She was human now, and beautiful. Her body was crammed into a tight ghost suit, like when we had first met. The only indicator that anything had changed since then was her hair, which was still a brown tentacled mess instead of a fiery red ponytail.

"It is good to see you, Kerrigan," I said, reaching an arm out to clasp her shoulder. "I take it you are responsible for the alarms I've been hearing?"

Kerrigan smiled. "Valerian left me alone with a drone. Now an army of zerglings is flooding the whole facility. I've never seen anyone mix intelligence and stupidity quite like the Mengsk boy."

I laughed. "Guess you still retain your psionic power. Well done, Kerr. Shall we make our way to a shuttle bay, then, and try to escape?"

Kerrigan nodded. "That was my plan, once I found you. Let's go."

We took off running through the corridors, a dozen zerglings keeping pace nearby.

"So... 'Magis?'" I asked as we ran, only stopping occasionally to check the signs posted at forks in the road.

"My new nickname for you," Kerrigan explained. "Since you're not a cerebrate anymore and you won't tell anyone your real name. You shortened 'Kerrigan', I'll shorten 'Magistrate.' I had plenty of time to think about it while I waited for a chance to escape. Speaking of, I can barely remember anything that happened while we were infested. I told Valerian I remember nothing at all, of course, but that was a lie. I remember you, and killing Arcturus, and the whispers… which I can no longer hear. But do you remember more?"

I shook my head. "I only remember bits and pieces as well. But I know we need to get to Char. We need to find the rest of the Swarm. And we need to -"

Just then, we turned a corner, and nearly ran straight into a full platoon of marines and ghosts.


	31. Back in the Saddle

After a second to recover from the near collision, one of the ghosts spoke rapidly into his radio. "This is Bravo team. We've located Kerrigan!"

I prepared myself to pounce upon them, before I remembered. I was powerless now.

Kerrigan, however, reached out her hands and clenched them. A wave of psionic energy burst out from her and grabbed hold of the Terrans, crushing them with extreme force. Any survivors were set upon by our zerglings and quickly torn apart.

"Bravo team? Bravo team, report!" the voice came through the dead ghost's radio. "Blast, all units to sector six!" I recognized the voice. It was Nova's.

"I see she's still alive," I commented. "We better get out of here."

"Yes," Kerrigan replied, "but first…" She walked over to one of the dead marines, picked up his gun, and threw it at me. "You know how to use this, right?" she asked as I barely caught the heavy weapon.

"Err, well, in theory. I haven't actually shot a gun in over a decade."

"It's like riding a bike," she said as she picked up the dead ghost's sniper rifle and twirled the heavy machinery around like it was a toy. "It'll come to you. Come on."

We ran through several more corridors, shooting and psionically crushing every Terran in our way, before we ran into a console with an adjutant we could interface with, who gave us directions to the shuttle bay. Apparently, we would need to catch a tram to reach it.

As we made our way to the train station, we killed every Umojan marine and Dominion squad we ran across, though I made sure we left any civilians alone. If they weren't trying to stop us, I wanted them alive so they too could have the hope of receiving the gift of infestation someday. We also ran across a few pens of zerglings on the way, freeing them and adding them to our little makeshift Swarm.

My shooting skills were certainly rusty. I missed more often than I hit, and occasionally I'd even hit a friendly Zerg. But at least I wasn't entirely useless. Still, it was clear Kerrigan could have gotten out of here all alone, if she'd needed to. She was the most powerful ghost the Confederacy had ever seen, and now, for the first time as a Terran, unfettered by their psionic dampening measures. Now that she'd also gotten free of whatever Valerian had used to contain her, only truly overwhelming force could stop her. Or maybe another psionically powerful being.

In the moments when we were just traveling, and my attention did not need to be directed towards shooting and not getting shot, I found myself admiring Kerrigan. It was a strange feeling, one I had not experienced since some time before I was infested. I was an old man, at least relative to Kerrigan: only a little younger than Arcturus Mengsk. But my Zerg cells and hormones had been replaced with younger, healthier Terran cells and hormones, and I felt twenty years younger than I was.

"Magis," Kerrigan spoke up as we marched down yet another corridor. "You're a pig."

My eyes widened. Oh. Right. Telepath. Didn't take long for me to get caught. "Sorry, Kerrigan," I muttered sheepishly.

Kerrigan shook her head. "It's fine. I know how you're feeling. It's weird being in a human body again. But keep your focus on the mission."

"Of course," I replied, and then we ran into yet another squad of marines.

…

Finally, we made it to the tram.

"This is the only way out," Kerrigan informed me as we stepped onto the enormous platform. "My zerglings flooded the labs and kept their forces distracted. That won't be the case once we reach the shuttle bay. Prepare for a fight when we arrive." She punched some buttons on a console and the platform underneath us rumbled and started following a rail into the distance of an enormous and dimly lit tunnel.

As I stared into the distance, I noticed something. "I don't think we're going to have to wait," I commented, pointing at the dropship and vikings flying towards us. "They're in the tunnel!"

As they approached, Nova's voice broadcast from the tram's loudspeakers. "This facility is now in lockdown. You will not escape. Make this easy on everyone and surrender."

"I think we'll try our luck," Kerrigan shouted, and then threw a massive bolt of psionic energy at the dropship. It exploded, the units it carried falling in pieces into the abyss beneath the tram without ever getting the chance to be deployed.

The vikings, meanwhile, transformed into their assault mode once they flew over the tram. Upon landing, to my surprise, they did not target us.

"They're going for the engines!" I shouted as I fired my rifle at the closest viking. I missed, but the several dozen zerglings accompanying us did not. The vikings were swiftly torn apart.

I looked around. More vikings and dropships were approaching in a steady stream.

"Why aren't they attacking all at once?" Kerrigan asked as she psionically tore apart another dropship.

"Maybe they can only get a few ships into the tunnel at a time and they're impatient?" I offered, not really satisfied with my explanation. "Why are these engines so exposed?" I countered. "Seems like a glaring safety error."

"I don't know, maybe the engineer was suicidal," Kerrigan answered as she sniped a marine that had managed to unload from another dropship. "Would explain why there aren't any barriers between us and a long drop into the abyss."

"Probably Umojan design," I suggested as I shot at another viking. "There's a reason they never defeated the Confederacy."

We continued like that, talking and destroying all flying attackers, until we finally arrived at our destination. You would think they'd have given up at some point. It was obvious we had the advantage. But someone in charge was an idiot. Probably a Umojan.

We ran down another corridor, following signs to the shuttle bay. Finally, we traveled down a walkway into a massive open chamber. A number of shuttles lined the far wall. In between us and them…

"Archangel in position. I've got the shuttle bay secured." The voice of the pilot of the massive mech reverberated throughout the shuttle bay. It was like an enormous viking in assault mode, but chock-full of rocket cannons and missile launchers.

"Good. I've got their escape covered." Nova's voice carried from behind us. I turned around. My eyes widened as I saw several platoons of infantry garbed in the black armor of spec ops streaming into the hallway behind us. Nova was in the front.

"I see you recovered well," I shouted to her.

"The wonders of modern medical technology," she yelled back. "You won't be so lucky."

Kerrigan rushed forward across the walkway. "Hurry, Magis. We have to get through that 'Archangel!'"

I swiftly took off after her. I wasn't about to stick around and let them separate us like an idiot.

"Watch your fire," I could make out Nova speaking into her radio. "We need that walkway intact."

"Roger," the voice of the Archangel boomed, and then it began firing missiles at us wildly. Unshielded as I was, one hit would have meant near-certain death. This was going to be a challenge.

I looked back. Nova's group was gaining on us. "Kerrigan!" I called up. "We need to destroy that walkway! Keep them from getting to us!"

"Got it," Kerigan called out. A massive burst of psionic energy exploded from Kerrigan, throwing all the missiles coming at us harmlessly into the distance. Save one, which Kerrigan guided with a tendril of psionic energy into the walkway behind us. It exploded just behind Nova, throwing her forward and annihilating the marines flanking her. The walkway crumbled into the abyss, trapping the rest of the Nova's squad on the other side.

Kerrigan barely spared a glance to check the situation. "Keep her off me!" she shouted. "I'll take care of the Archangel!" She rushed at the massive mech alongside her little army of zerglings, shooting her rifle at weakpoints and psionically diverting any missiles heading my way.

Of the two of us, I was sure I had the easier job. But now Nova, who had been knocked to the floor by the blast, was slowly getting to her feet, and I wasn't sure how I, an unarmored and barely armed ordinary human, was supposed to go up against a trained ghost.

Still, there was always one strategy open to me: talking. I walked briskly up to the ghost. "Nova. Are you alright?"

Nova grimaced as she stood and began to aim her shotgun. At me. "What do you care?"

"I don't know what they told you about me, but I want to preserve life, not end it. Including yours. I know the secrets of immortality, Nova. I can share them with you. Don't you want to live forever?"

"What, like you helped Tosh live forever?" She scoffed, her shotgun still aimed squarely at me. She hadn't pulled the trigger yet. That was good. "No thanks."

I didn't know who Tosh was, but I presumed he was a casualty in one of our battles, one that Nova had cared about. "We might be able to help him live again. Remember Stukov? He was dead before we infested him." I neglected to add that most of his individual cells were nevertheless still living.

"You... you can bring back the dead?" there was hesitancy in Nova's voice. Good. That was what I needed.

Explosions continued to go off behind me as Kerrigan fought the Archangel. It was distracting.

"The recently dead, certainly," I nodded. "We're working on ways to resurrect the long dead as well," I lied. It was always dangerous to lie to a ghost, what with them being psychic. But I was a good liar, and the risk seemed worth it in this case.

Nova relaxed her posture a bit, slightly lowering her rifle. Then she stiffened and brought her weapon back up. "Then surrender and cooperate with us. We'll uncover the science behind your claims."

I shook my head. "It'll never work without Zerg DNA. Their essence is so pure and malleable. You just need to shape it correctly. But that requires Zerg hands."

There was a clang as one of the Archangel's wings fell off. Along with its attached missile cannons.

"You've stalled long enough," said Nova. "My orders are clear. Surrender. Now. Or I will be forced to destroy you."

My mind was racing a million miles a minute. How was I going to get out of this? Keep talking? Call for Kerrigan? Rush her? Try to shoot her? Then I remembered something.

I kept my weapon pointed at the floor and took a few steps towards Nova. "Why don't you make me?" I called out to her. "Like you made that overseer obey you on Char."

Nova made a strange throaty noise. "You really want to be telepathically dominated? I suppose you might be susceptible. Let's find out." She lowered her gun slightly and brought a gloved hand up to her visor.

Suddenly I felt as though my mind were being crushed under an enormous weight. I resisted for a moment, but it was too heavy. My mind collapsed. I was dimly aware of what I was doing, as though experiencing my body's sensations through a video screen. But I couldn't control… I couldn't _will_.

I watched, trapped underneath the weight of Nova's telepathic domination, as my body walked closer to Nova.

She met me and looked into my eyes. "Guess you're not so strong without your zerg," she commented, smirking.

Then I felt Nova command my body to turn around and look at Kerrigan. The archangel was heavily damaged, but so was she. Blood was oozing out of her jumpsuit from places where the Archangel's bullets had grazed her. The zerglings we had brought with us had all been reduced to piles of broken flesh.

My arms raised my rifle, and my eyes looked down its sights, taking aim at Kerrigan. I wanted to shout, to warn her. But I couldn't control my own mouth.

With a series of loud cracks, my rifle fired at my friend and ally.

Thankfully, getting mind-controlled hadn't improved my aim any, and I missed.

Kerrigan glanced back at me, face awash in confusion. Then she seemed to sense what had happened, as she swiftly leapt at the Archangel, using her crushing psionic powers to burrow a hole straight through its reinforced metal and emerge from the other side, putting the mech between her and us.

The mech turned around to face her. It moved slowly and creaked loudly as it did. It was full of holes and scorch marks, and looked about ready to topple over.

My body wasn't looking at Nova, and I couldn't command it to, so I couldn't tell what she was doing.

Suddenly, a massive gash appeared in the Archangel, and it began to split in two. A second later, it exploded in a blinding flash of light and heat.

I felt a presence behind me. When I regained vision, Kerrigan was running towards me and Nova, the Archangel in twisted pieces strewn about the docking bay. Nova spoke, and a chill ran down my spine as I realised she was directly behind my ear. "Not another step or this man dies!" she shouted at Kerrigan.

I couldn't see it, but I could feel its presence, somehow. Nova had her shotgun pointed at the back of my head.

Kerrigan came to an abrupt halt and I saw her eyes darting around, trying to figure out what to do.

"Hands in the air!" Nova demanded. "Don't make any sudden moves, Kerrigan. Cooperate, and he won't be harmed."

Kerrigan did as she was instructed. If Kerrigan was caught because I was too weak to avoid getting taken as a hostage, I wasn't sure I could ever forgive myself. What options did she have? If she truly surrendered, there was no way they would allow us a second chance at escape. If she leapt at Nova, I would die. There were no reinforcements. Maybe she could bluff that she doesn't care about me, keep advancing slowly? No, too risky. Nova was a hardened assassin. She wouldn't have a qualm about killing me if Kerrigan didn't obey. What else was there?

While I racked my brain, it was clear from Kerrigan's determined expressions that she was thinking too.

Snickt! Faster than anyone could react, metal spikes erupted from the ground, impaling Nova's gun arm.

Nova grunted in pain as her shotgun clattered uselessly to the ground.

Her concentration broken, the weight lifted from my mind, and I found myself in control again. I swiftly ran from her.

Kerrigan leapt at her. With a scream, Nova pulled her bloody arm out of the spikes and dove away, somersaulting and grabbing her dropped shotgun on the way. She started raising it with her offhand, her main hand hanging limply at her side, but then Kerrigan was on her again.

Nova tried to escape, but Kerrigan was both faster and stronger than her. She knocked Nova to the ground, then used psionic force to break apart the floor under her, bringing up a massive strip of steel and wrapping it around Nova, pinning her.

Nova struggled against her bonds for a moment, then finally went limp. I walked cautiously towards her and Kerrigan.

Nova glared up at us. "Aren't you going to finish it?" she asked. "You let me live, and I'll just keep coming after you."

I blinked. "What did the Confederacy do to ghosts in that academy? You're all so suicidal!"

Kerrigan shook her head and leaned down over the trapped ghost. "Oh, we're not gonna kill you. You'll be much more useful to us alive."

"I will never help you," she cried. "You killed Tosh! Not to mention millions of other good men and women."

"Not to worry, you won't have a choice when we're finished with you," I chimed in. "You'll like infestation, trust me. Everyone else does."

Nova stayed silent, merely glowering at us.

"We better get out of here before her posse finds a way across," I said to Kerrigan, gesturing at the platoon still standing across the destroyed walkway, looking for an opportunity to join their leader.

"Right," Kerrigan replied. "Come on." Psionic energy exploded around her, tendrils of it wrapping around Nova and her entrapping sheet of metal, lifting her into the air. Then Kerrigan launched herself and her cargo through the air, swiftly boarding a dropship.

I followed much more slowly. Not having psionic power was turning out to be really annoying.


	32. Rendezvous

While Kerrigan piloted the dropship towards Char, I attended to the wounded ghost, whom Kerrigan had thrown roughly into a corner. The dropship wasn't a medivac, but it still had some first aid kits on board. I bandaged Nova's arm as best I could, considering the sheet metal surrounding her. I was able to get under it enough to stop the bleeding, at least.

"My gun," Nova grunted. "Did you bring it?"

I shook my head. "If you get out of this and still want to kill us, you'll have to use your bare hands."

"That can be managed," Nova muttered.

Then I moved to her head and removed her visor, revealing Nova's piercing blue eyes. I inspected the visor, not understanding any of the devices attached to it besides the radio. But I remembered her putting a finger to her visor when she took control of me. Something in it must amplify her psionic power. I threw the visor to the ground and stomped on it, crushing the expensive piece of equipment under my boot.

Nova's eyes widened, then she returned to glaring at me. "So. You've captured me. Rendered me powerless. How long do you intend to keep me prisoner?"

"Until we can infest you," I replied. "But we'll move you to more comfortable accommodations when we get some."

"Great," Nova said sarcastically. She slumped to the ground, clearly finished with our conversation.

"Warp drive engaging," the dropship's adjutant announced. Then I felt the squeezing sensation that accompanied warp travel. After a few uncomfortable minutes, we finally exited warp space.

I peered out the window. The fiery red planet of Char loomed large in the distance.

"Adjutant, what's the status on Char?" I heard Kerrigan ask.

"General Warfield has succeeded in greatly diminishing the number of Zerg on Char over the three weeks since the Queen of Blades was captured. Survivors are commanded by a broodmother named Zagara. Combat is ongoing."

I'd been unconscious for three weeks?

"Kerrigan, how soon after we were captured did you wake?" I asked. "Did anything interesting happen while I was out?"

Kerrigan turned to face me, grimacing. "Yeah, I woke up pretty quickly, but I was terribly sick for some time. Otherwise they would never have gotten us to that facility. My guess is that my mind was strong enough to assert itself over the coma, but my body wasn't, though I really have no idea what the explanation is. In any case, you should know: Valerian took us to Narud before he asked the Umojans for help."

My eyes widened. "Then Narud knows we're Terran now. We don't have the element of surprise anymore."

"Yep," Kerrigan confirmed. "Narud tried to convince Valerian to kill us. Thankfully for us, Valerian was too intent on learning how to 'cure' infestation. When Narud realized Valerian wouldn't listen, he stole the Xel'Naga artifact, which Valerian had brought with him hoping to study." Kerrigan scowled. "Now Narud has the very thing we were trying to keep from him. We better hurry."

I blinked. "What? And you didn't think that little detail was worth mentioning earlier! That means everything is in jeopardy now!"

"Well, excuse me," Kerrigan retorted, "I was a little preoccupied saving our lives!"

She was right. I took a deep breath and calmed myself. "Of course. Sorry."

Kerrigan turned away and grabbed the pilot's controls. "Anyway, we better get to Char and rendezvous with Zagara," Kerrigan said.

"Agreed," I nodded. "I bet she'll be happy to see us."

…

The spore colonies shooting at us suggested Zagara was not, in fact, happy to see us. Initially I supposed we had been mistaken for an enemy because we were in a Terran dropship, but Kerrigan informed me that she has made telepathic contact with the Zerg below, and they were not responding to her commands. Zagara was refusing her.

"Can't you take control of them anyway?" I cried out as Kerrigan maneuvered us through volcanic canyons, trying to find cover.

"These aren't ferals!" she shouted back. "And I can't overrule Zagara anymore! We're not part of the hive mind!"

I wobbled unsteadily as an explosion rocked the ship. "Well then we better find somewhere safer! Perhaps Stukov's territory?"

"I'm trying!" Kerrigan shouted. "Now shut up and sit down!"

I resentfully obeyed, glancing at Nova as I did. Her smirk suggested she found the whole exchange quite amusing. It pleased me when the ship bounced again and part of her metal sheet dug into her side. Her smirk quickly changed to a grimace.

… 

Our ship was heavily damaged, but we made it out of Zagara's territory and into Stukov's. Infested structures were everywhere. I was grateful that the Dominion had been too occupied with Zagara to engage the infested to whom I had promised eternal life.

We were approaching Stukov's command center when we saw it.

"A Leviathan!" I cried out excitedly, admiring the enormous creature from the window. "The Abathurs must have built a new one while we were gone! I suppose the conflict left enough excess biomass laying around."

"Most likely place to find help," Kerrigan added. "I'll take us in."

The dropship slowly descended towards the tentacled monster and then into an open sac from which flying zerg launched. As we landed, the Adjutant spoke up. "Warning: many zerg organisms detected."

"Yes, that's the idea, Adjutant," I rolled my eyes. Then I addressed Nova. "We'll be right back. You behave yourself, you hear?"

Nova merely glared at me.

Kerrigan and I disembarked. A few zerglings were hanging around the docking bay, but they didn't seem hostile.

"They recognize us," Kerrigan commented as we walked through the chamber unmolested. "That's a good sign."

A membrane that served as a door opened up in front of us. Behind it was a certain tentacled woman.

"Izsha!" I greeted her happily. "Or, rather, Izsha's replacement?"

"I am Izsha," Izsha answered, "though not the Izsha you spoke to previously. I am the advisor attached to this Leviathan."

"Identical genetic code, I assume?" I continued. "Fascinating. One of the best features of the Zerg is how replaceable everything is. Abathur is a biological factory."

"Abathur has endowed me with many of the memories of my predecessor," Izsha added. "My service will be just as useful."

"Where are the Abathurs?" Kerrigan interrupted. "And where is Stukov?"

"The surviving Abathurs are in the Leviathan's evolution pit. I will guide you to them. Stukov took a small collection of units and left shortly after you two were captured. He said something about discovering Narud's secret base. Follow me." Izsha's body-tentacle began traveling along the roof of the hallway, the Leviathan's flesh parting way for her.

We followed. "Sounds like our next objective should be to regroup with Stukov," Kerrigan commented as we walked.

"We should be reinfested first, if we can," I replied thoughtfully. "Otherwise I'll just keep being dead weight to you."

Kerrigan smirked.

A short while later, we arrived at the evolution pit. An Abathur slithered up as soon as he spotted us.

"Different," was the first word he said. "Examining genetic strands. Terran. Zerg traces absent. Queen's psionic marker remains. I obey."

"Good to see you too, Abathur," I replied, lightly shaking my head.

"What's happened?" Kerrigan demanded. "Why is Zagara refusing my orders?"

"Broodmother Zagara believes you are Terran, weak. Lacks circumspection. Will rebel until you prove yourself stronger."

"Then we'll do just that!" Kerrigan declared.

"Hang on," I spoke up. "We shouldn't get into more fights while I'm still in Terran form. Abathur, can we be reinfested?"

Abathur shook his bulbous head. "Must travel to Zerus. Find Zerg DNA untainted by Xel'Naga intervention. Alternative Xel'Naga control of Swarm."

Oh, that's right. His words brought the memory of our plans up from whichever deep recess of my altered brain they had been lurking under. "Hmm. Well, could you give me my psionic power back, at least? I need to be able to command the Swarm."

Abathur peered silently at me for a moment. "Psionic power difficult to evolve. Success first time great achievement. Second time dangerous. Possible. Can try. Give brain." He held his spindly hands out expectantly.

My eyes widened. "Uhh… you're saying you want to perform an extremely dangerous surgery on me, when you're not sure whether it will even work?"

As if to confirm my fears, something near the back of the evolution chamber, attended to by other Abathurs, shrieked in pain.

"Accurate," Abathur answered.

I looked at Kerrigan. She was smiling, waiting for my reaction.

"I think I'll pass," I said quickly. "I'm sure Stukov has some infested Terran arms and armor lying around. I'll find some and hit the shooting range to practice. Er, after I make a shooting range."

Kerrigan chuckled and nodded. "Not to worry, Magis. While you sharpen your skills, I will subjugate Zagara. We'll reconvene when I have succeeded."

"Sounds like a good plan, Kerr," I replied, smiling a smile that did not reach my eyes. "Best of luck." I turned to leave, then I remembered. "Oh, uh, one last thin\g, Abathur," I said, looking at the slug over my shoulder. "We have a prisoner in the dropship we traveled here in. The ghost who stole the artifact from us. See to it that she is contained on the Leviathan. We want to infest her with us."

Abathur looked to Kerrigan. Were my orders not enough? Kerrigan nodded and added, "Don't hurt her."

"Pain irrelevant," Abathur protested. "But I obey."

"'Pain irrelevant.' Yeah, really glad I decided against surgery. Have fun fighting Zagara, Kerrigan." So saying, I walked briskly away from Abathur's terrifying operating room.


	33. Domination

After asking a few infested civilians for assistance, I made my way to the infested armory where Stukov stored and experimented on equipment we reclaimed from Terran enemies. After a bit of browsing, I settled on my new tools of warfare: an infested suit of marine power armor and an energy sword.

The marine armor was an obvious choice. Ghost environment suits required psionic power to be useful. Firebat armor, medic armor, and even the new marauder armor were all inseparable from their unique weapon (or healing device, in the medic's case), which I had absolutely no idea how to use. And I certainly lacked the training to pilot a heavy mech like a hellbat. That left me with standard marine power armor. Though, the suit I had chosen had been heavily modified through the introduction of zerg biomass, in the form of writhing tentacles, into structural joints and other weakpoints. This made for a much stronger and more agile suit of armor, as well as a more frightening one.

The sword was a much harder choice. Guns were safer, as you could shoot from range. But the Confederacy had trained me to be an officer, not a soldier. Part of that officer training had been ceremonial fencing classes, as some of the Confederate Old Families had considered sword dueling skills a mark of status. So while I couldn't hit anything by firing a marine's machine gun or a ghost's sniper rifle, I felt confident I could carve up some enemies with a sword.

Still, I was used to ceremonial steel swords. I'd never even heard of energy swords before. A blade of blue plasma extended far from the metal hilt. I suspected a psionically powerful wielder could even sharpen the plasma into edges mere molecules in length. But I kept it on the factory settings, so to speak. The thicker edge meant I'd have to hammer away at power armor, not slice through it like butter. I wondered where Stukov acquired the weapon. Had a scientist we'd infested designed it?

In any case, now armed and armored, I set about practicing my swordplay. I was well aware that the heat of battle would be nothing like a formal duel, but I hoped enough skills would transfer over for me to be useful. With an Abathur's help, I fashioned target dummies in an empty space out of spare biomass and set to work repeatedly attacking them. When I felt ready, I began testing myself against nearby zerglings, fighting stray ones not belonging to any of Stukov's infested in particular. They would actually defend themselves, and it took some work to get under their armor and eviscerate them, but I did, and I got better the more I practiced.

While I practiced, I planned. It was troubling that Zagara had rebelled and the Abathurs were apparently obeying Kerrigan, not me. I had less power now than any time since before my commanding a Confederate squadron. The Zerg did not have to obey me like they did when I was a Cerebrate, and any Terran who recognized me would revile me as a monster. The only reason I still had any power was because of Kerrigan. If she decided to betray me… that would be the end for me. I needed to stay on her good side. And try to make other allies if possible.

To that end, I decided to check on Nova in her prison on the Leviathan. I found her in a cell built out of the Leviathan's fleshy walls, with a transparent membrane for a door. Her equipment had been removed, leaving her in her skivvies and nothing else. I was suddenly reminded of the youthfulness of my new body.

"What do you want?" Nova demanded when she saw me, not moving from her position sitting against a wall.

I shook myself a little and cleared my throat. "I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot. You'll see our side of things once you are infested. I'd like to try to lay some of the groundwork for that future friendship now."

Nova scoffed. "Right. Even if I were interested in that, which I am not, I know what you're really after. Telepath, remember? Why don't you come in this cell and try to take what you want? We'll see who overpowers whom."

I took a step back from the cell membrane-door involuntarily. "Oh, I have no illusions about who would win," I assured her. "And even if I did, I'm certainly not so crass as that."

"Lucky me," Nova muttered sarcastically. Presumably she'd been half-hoping I'd try it so she could escape.

"Regardless, I'm more interested in chatting. I know very little about you, and I doubt you know much about me. An exchange of information could be," I paused, searching for the right words, "mutually beneficial."

Nova stared at me for a long moment. Then… "I already know everything about you. You think Valerian wouldn't dig up information on his enemies? You're from Tarsonis, where you were groomed to become a Confederate officer from a young age. After you passed training with flying colors, you swiftly rose through the ranks of beta squadron, commanding it until you suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of Arcturus Mengsk. To punish you, the Confederates reassigned you to the office of colonial magistrate of Mar Sara. You worked there for a few years until the Zerg invaded. Then you joined up with the Sons of Korhal, used a psi emitter to unleash hell on your home planet, and got yourself and Kerrigan infested. Then you led the Swarm, up until that artifact somehow made you human again. Not that that matters. If you played a part in the fall of Tarsonis, it's clear that even the human version of you is a monster."

I blinked. "Most impressive, I must admit. Especially the part about the psi emitter. That shouldn't be in any public records."

"I'm dedicated to my craft," Nova replied wryly. "There's only one thing that I don't know, even though I really should: your name. The files only refer to you by title."

"Ah, well, that's something, at least," I said with a twinge of relief. "Since I lack a formal office now, you can call me by Kerrigan's nickname for me: Magis."

Nova's lips curved upwards, hinting at a smile. "Well, that's stupid," she said, but her tone was teasing, not angry. "Whatever." Her tone grew serious again. "Look, _Magis_ , you don't have anything to offer me other than my freedom. If you're not going to give me that, then leave me alone." To emphasize her point, she turned around in her cell, showing me her back.

I sighed. "Very well, but first I feel I must try to defend my honor. If there's one thing I know about you with certainty, Nova, it's that you suffered under the Confederacy. All ghosts did. Ripped from your families as children, trained day and night until you were living weapons, sent out to murder people in cold blood, given constant memory wipes to keep you from remembering all the horrors you had seen and done. It must have been a nightmare, at least in those moments when you were brave enough to reflect on it. When the Confederacy fell, you must have been relieved. Destroying the Confederacy was the right thing to do. You know that's true. I'm sure ghosts have fared far better under the Mengsk family's reforms. Valerian doesn't seem the type to forcefully tear apart families. So-"

Nova broke her silence and interrupted angrily. "You murdered families! You killed everyone on Tarsonis!"

I stared at the back of her head sadly. I had an idea what that outburst really meant. Enough experience with distraught people, you start to recognize the patterns. Now it was just a matter of applying them to Nova's case. I spoke my next words quietly. "One of the only things you know about the family that was stolen from you is that they were from Tarsonis. You knew it wasn't possible, but throughout all the grueling training you harbored some small hope of meeting them someday. When the Confederacy fell, the joy you felt at its collapse was mingled with the despair of realizing you had lost any chance of ever meeting your real family. I'm sorry."

Nova didn't respond. Then she made a strange sound. It'd been long enough since I'd heard such a sound that it took me a moment to place it. It was a sob.

I wished I could reach my hand out, touch her shoulder, reassure her somehow. But I knew how dangerous opening that membrane-door would be. So instead I continued speaking softly. "I felt the same thing, as I watched the zerg overrun the planet. I lost all hope of ever reconciling with my own family that day too. I counted the cost, Nova, believe me. But I knew better than most just how strong the Confederacy was. Unleashing the Zerg was the only way. That… slaughter, horrific though it was, paved the way to a better future. You know I'm right. Besides, you're a murderer too, Nova. All ghosts are. You've torn apart families yourself. What makes me any more a monster than you?"

Nova was holding her head in her hands now. "You killed Tosh!" she cried out, still refusing to turn her face to me.

If she was talking about who I thought she was, then Kerrigan had killed Tosh. But I knew correcting her would not be helpful. "Now you're clinging to the life of your former boyfriend?" I asked instead. "As though his life were so much more valuable than those you have taken? I can guess what your relationship with him was like. He was the only one to treat you like a person, was he not? He refused to think of you or anyone else as mere weapons, no matter how the Confederacy tried to break him. You got a little bit of love from him, love that you never felt from anyone else, so you clung to it for all you were worth. When Tarsonis fell, you felt he was the only hope you had left. Ghosts aren't allowed true romances, but maybe one day, when you were both older, if you lived long enough, your wranglers would let you retire and you could live happily together. You knew that wasn't likely. Even if you survived, Tosh was too rebellious. If he saw a chance to escape the Confederacy or the Dominion, he'd take it, and though you refused to think about it, you would probably have been the one assigned to take him down. In-"

"That's enough!" Nova shouted over me. She finally turned to me, and I saw rage in her tear-stained eyes. "Stop psycho-analyzing me! Leave. Me. Alone!"

I put my hands up placatingly. I paused, thinking carefully, and giving her anger a moment to cool. Finally, I spoke up. "The Zerg make for a good family, Nova. You will find love and meaning in the hivemind. I truly wish only the best for you. Now I leave you to your thoughts."

I took a deep breath, and walked away. It had been a much sadder conversation than I had expected, but I couldn't help but smile when I realized that I'd gotten that friendship-founding exchange of information after all.


	34. Fire in the Sky

The next day, Kerrigan returned, a cowed Zagara in tow. I met them under the blazing sun outside the Leviathan.

"Do you remember seeding an acid marsh with baneling eggs?" was the first thing out of Kerrigan's mouth.

I blinked. "No, I don't."

"Yeah, I don't either." Kerrigan shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense. We would have used them in that final battle against the Terrans. But Izsha seemed convinced that one of us created the egg field. At any rate, I hatched the eggs and used them to subdue Zagara."

I looked at the broodmother. "Good to have you back, Zagara."

Zagara tilted her head, looking at me inquisitively. Then she glanced at Kerrigan, then back to me. Finally, she bowed slightly. "Even Terran, the Queen has proven herself the stronger. If she respects you, then so will I."

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Further evidence that my hold on the Zerg was far weaker than Kerrigan's. "Err… glad to hear it, Zagara." I turned to Kerrigan. "That it, then? We ready to travel to Zerus?"

Kerrigan shook her head. "Warfield has these massive battlecruisers now. Called Gorgons. They'd tear apart the Leviathan before we could leave the atmosphere. We have to destroy them first." A steely glint entered her eyes. "Besides, now I have a score to settle with General Warfield. I'm not leaving until he's dead or infested."

I groaned. The Gorgon point made sense, but killing Warfield was unnecessary. Why was Kerrigan so vengeful? Oh well. My position at the moment was too precarious to argue with her. "Fine. Should we march on Warfield's base, then?"

"The sooner the better," Kerrigan answered.

"My queen," Zagara hesitantly spoke up. "Since the Terrans control the skies, there is only one approach to the Terran fortress: the Bone Trench. I have tried to bring my brood through it, but the Terrans sent their Gorgons to strafe us over and over. My brood bled and died, along with any hope of pushing the Terrans from Char."

Kerrigan growled. "Do not give up so easily, Zagara. We'll find a way through." Then she looked to me. "Suggestions?"

Grateful that Kerrigan still seemed to respect my tactical expertise, I strategized as best I could. "Well, it sounds like we can't march through the trench nor fly over it until we deal with these Gorgons. If we had Terran ghosts I'd recommend a covert operation to sneak in and sabotage the ships. But the Zerg can't sneak. What else… we could try destroying a Gorgon when it is launched against us, I suppose. That would require a lot of anti-air though, and a Gorgon would likely kill way too many hydralisks before it fell for such a strategy to be cost-effective. Hmm… Do we still have any Scourge? They'd probably be the most effective option."

"I don't feel any under my control," Kerrigan replied thoughtfully.

"The Bone Trench is littered with abandoned scourge nests, my Queen," Zagara offered. "However, reawakening them would be slow work, and we would be exposed. I suggest racing though the trench. If we are fast enough and surprise the Terrans, we can make it through with acceptable losses."

Kerrigan rolled her eyes. "And if we aren't fast enough or the Terrans are prepared, another brood bleeds and dies. You need to learn to consider alternatives, Zagara. You need to learn vision."

I wasn't sure that Zagara really deserved the chastisement. Racing through wasn't a terrible idea, though it was certainly risky. Still, no reason to take that risk if we could snipe any opposing Gorgons by restoring the Scourge nests. "What would need to be done to reawaken the nests, Zagara?" I asked.

Zagara bowed slightly, then answered. "The nests have gone dormant to avoid starving to death. If we place a creep tumor nearby, the creep's nutrients will reinvigorate the nest and awaken the Scourge hibernating inside."

I nodded. "We can do that quickly enough. It's a good plan. As long as Warfield doesn't have any other surprises waiting for us. Is there anything besides the Gorgons we should be worrying about, Zagara?"

Zagara paused to think. "He has deployed nuclear warheads against my brood in the past," she responded after a moment. "But they cannot reach into the depths of the trench."

The crevice is too narrow, huh?" I said to myself. "Guess we'll cross that bridge when we reach it."

Zagara looked confused. "There are no bridges in the trench."

I smiled. "I just mean we'll worry about the nukes when we have to face them. For now, let's begin preparations for our invasion of the Bone Trench.

…

The place had earned its name. That was the first thing I noticed when I arrived on the front lines, at the hive cluster just outside the entrance to the bone trench. Peering in, I could see that the floor of the massive trench was covered in piles of Zerg bones. No wonder I didn't remember a "Bone Trench" from before. Presumably Zagara had only started calling it that once her brood was massacred here, leaving thousands of zerg bones behind.

It took some time, but we built up an army again out of Zagara's surviving brood, including several swarm queens, a new strain of broodmother the Abathurs had created to help us in our mission. They were particularly effective at placing creep tumors and healing our troops even in the midst of combat. Finally, once I felt we had as large an army as we could reasonably expect, I spoke to Kerrigan. "Normally I'd give some speech to inspire the men before this dangerous charge," I commented. "But since we're using zerg… just give the order whenever you're ready, Kerr."

Kerrigan smiled. "Attack!" she roared, and hundreds of Zerg all rushed into the Bone Trench, together with Kerrigan and myself in my power armor.

The zerg swarm swiftly overran the meager enemy fortifications within the trench. I mostly tried to stay out of danger, but I got a few swipes in where I could. Swarm queens planted creep tumors as we went along, and soon we had control of a chunk of the canyon.

Then I heard a rumbling, and a truly massive battlecruiser appeared in the distance.

"I can see why Warfield would only field one Gorgon at a time," Kerrigan commented, drawing up beside me while I gazed into the sky. "That thing's huge."

I nodded, then abruptly turned away and began looking around. "Have we found a dormant scourge nest yet?"

"We have," Kerrigan answered. "I'm commanding a queen to revitalize it now."

"Then we'll soon see if Zagara was right about whether the starving Scourge inside can recover and attack."

A moment passed. Then a loud screeching filled my ears as a couple dozen scourge whizzed overhead. It was like a missile salvo, and it hit its mark, crashing all over the Gorgon's hull. Explosions of acid and succeeding explosions of fire inside the battlecruiser marked the Gorgon's doom. Too heavily damaged, it slowly fell to the earth in enormous pieces, each piece crashing into the trench with an earth-shattering kaboom.

"Quite the fireworks," I commented.

Kerrigan nodded. Then she smirked. "The hivemind can still pick up their encrypted transmissions. Warfield's ordering another Gorgon into the trench, haha. Wonder how many we'll have to destroy before he figures out that strategy won't work?"

I smiled slightly. "Depends on how many dormant scourge nests we can fight our way to, I suspect. I assume that was all of the Scourge nesting in the structure we awakened?"

Kerrigan nodded, her cheery expression vanishing and her eyes growing hard again. "Let's get back to the fighting."

…

The answer to Kerrigan's question turned out to be "All of them." Or, alternatively, "Seven." You'd think he would have stopped after the second or the third at the latest. Clearly he was just throwing away lives and incredibly expensive military hardware by that point. But nope. Warfield was kind enough to keep ordering Gorgon after Gorgon into the trench until we had spread creep to all the desiccated scourge nests and destroyed all seven of his Gorgons.

That's not to say that was his only strategy, of course. He reinforced his ground troops in the trench considerably, seeking to halt our advance, and even sent out strike teams accompanied by ravens to destroy our creep tumors. That would probably have been enough to assure the Zerg's defeat had Zagara been leading them. But Kerrigan was a monster. She was so psionically powerful she could tear apart whole sections of Warfield's fortifications by herself. It became apparent to me, as I struggled to battle alongside her, that she must still be growing in power. When she undid the Confederacy's neural tampering, way back when we raided the Amerigo, she began to be able to cast deadly storms of psionic power. Now she could do so much more, like hold squads in midair as she squeezed the life out of them. You'd think becoming Terran again would have slowed her progress down. Instead it seemed to have accelerated it.

Kerrigan easily countered all of Warfield's strategies, and, too stubborn to surrender I supposed, Warfield just kept sending his men and ships to her to die.

When the last Gorgon finally fell and the trench was ours, I watched Kerrigan put her hand to her ear, seeming to listen intently to something I couldn't hear. Then she burst out laughing.

I walked over to her with long awkward strides because of my cumbersome marine armor. "What is it?"

Kerrigan grinned menacingly. "Warfield transmitted, and I quote" - here Kerrigan adopted a deep mocking voice - "'Kerrigan, this is Warfield. I know you can hear me. I have a message for you: Bring everything you have. Bring your whole Swarm. I don't want to hunt down stragglers after we wipe you out.'" She laughed again and returned to her normal voice. "The fool."

I smiled along. "My only question is whether he's trying to put on false bravado for the benefit of his men, or if he genuinely believes his main base will be able to succeed where seven Gorgons failed."

"Ah well," Kerrigan shrugged, still chuckling. "We can oblige an old fool's dying wish…"


	35. Old Soldiers

We pressed on with our massive wave of Zerg, marching through the canyon and up onto the plateau where Warfield had constructed his new base. Even from a distance, I could see that the fortifications were impressive. Bunkers and siege tanks galore. Not to mention the nukes we now had to worry about. If there had been seven Gorgons to deal with on top of that, I'd question whether we could even succeed with our weakened forces. But thanks to Warfield's stubbornness, there wasn't. Was this still the same strategist I had so respected, back in the days of the Confederacy?

Kerrigan began barking orders. "Zagara, set up a hive cluster. We'll need reinforcements. Izsha, monitor the nuclear arsenal and tell when they're launching. Magus," she continued, turning to me. "How do you want to do this?"

Still peering at the fortress, I answered slowly. "We attack with everything we have. The nukes will probably hit anything we leave in reserve, and this base doesn't have a Xel'Naga artifact to force us to stagger our assault. As soon as everyone's gathered, let's charge. I suggest personally focusing your attacks on their tanks as soon as you see them. Our zerg should be able to handle anything else."

Kerrigan nodded, and a few minutes later, she and I were surrounded by a sea of carapace, claws, and mandibles. She gave the order, and the rampage began.

The tide of zerg washed over the Terran fortress, and the fortifications crumbled as quickly as if they were made of sand. Zerglings, hydralisks, banelings and more poured through the enormous front entrance and spread out, laying waste to all defenders in their path.

We had casualties, but not enough. By the time Iszha reported the launching of the nukes, we had destroyed a good portion of the base.

When the nukes fell, the invasion force was finally annihilated. Kerrigan protected herself, me, and a handful of nearby units by psionically deflecting a nuke overhead, and we retreated to Zagara's hive cluster.

"Build up our forces!" Kerrigan barked orders to Zagara. "We need to strike again as soon as possible!" Suddenly, her face broke into a huge smile. She turned to me. "Warfield's taunting me again," she explained.

I shook my head. "Foolish." Then I thought a moment. "You know, if this bravado is for the sake of his men, it might be a good idea to offer to let his men live if they surrender and leave Char. If Warfield doesn't accept, at least some of his men will resent him and fight worse as a result."

"Hmm, alright," Kerrigan said. "I'll broadcast a telepathic message on an unsecured radio frequency."

The radio embedded in my marine suit crackled to life, and I heard Kerrigan's voice. "It's over, Warfield. You've lost. Surrender now, and I will let your men live. Keep fighting, and I will slaughter them to the last."

There was no response at first. When Zagara announced, after a minute had passed, that two control groups of units were ready, Kerrigan immediately deployed them, and both of us joined their march. We reached the edge of the destruction from our first attack, and began tearing up still more Dominion defenses. Finally, Warfield's voice sputtered up from my suit radio. "Dammit, girl, we saved you! How could you return to... this? Fine! You let my men go! You let them go, you hear me? And we'll let you have your precious Char again…"

His last sentence trailed off, and though it was possible I imagined it, I thought I heard him finish it by muttering, "for now."

Kerrigan groaned disappointedly. "I didn't think he'd actually agree!" she hissed at me. "I won't let him go!"

"You don't have to," I replied. "Demand he turn himself over. We'll imprison him and infest him when we can. We'll let the rest of his men go… for now."

Kerrigan made a thoughtful humming sound, then nodded. She broadcast her reply. "Your men may leave. Order them to drop their weapons, load them into shuttles, and send them back to Dominion space. Soldiers, know that should you ever return you will not be shown mercy a second time. As for you, General Warfield, you must turn yourself over into our custody. We're coming to your command center now. Present no resistance, and no one else has to die today."

"Fine, Kerrigan." Warfield's voice sounded weary, all of a sudden. "It will be done as you say."

Warfield seemed true to his word. As we made our way towards the Terran command center, Warfield's few remaining men dropped their weapons and backed away from us. As we marched deeper into their territory, I was a little worried they might betray us after surrounding us. But even a surprise ambush wouldn't take down Kerrigan, just maybe me, and I doubted that was enough for Warfield to risk it.

We made our way safely into and through the command center, and found Warfield alone in the tactical operations center, his scowling face lit by the green light of the holotable displaying a map of the battlefield.

He looked up as we entered. His eyes moved from Kerrigan to me. "I know that face," he addressed me grimly. "Even after I left the Confederacy, I heard rumors of your tactical prowess and your subsequent fall from grace. To think that you were the Cerebrate we fought. Could you fall any farther?"

I shrugged. "You fell from the Confederacy's graces too, as I recall. They weren't hard to disappoint. Did Mengsk never tell you how we came to be infested in the first place?"

Warfield narrowed his eyes. "Emperor Valerian didn't know. From what we were able to piece together, you two were lost to the Zerg in the battle of New Gettysburg."

"Yes, I suppose Arcturus would not have allowed the truth to be known," I said, shaking my head slightly in disappointment. "He left us to die. Intentionally. He practically fed us to the Zerg on Tarsonis. You want someone to blame? Blame him."

Warfield scowled silently. Did that mean he believed me?

"It worked out, though," I added. "Infestation is a wonderful thing. You'll like it."

Warfield's eyes lit up in anger. "You mean to infest me?" he roared.

"Eventually," I answered.

"It's either that, or we slaughter every Terran on this planet," Kerrigan spoke up. "It's your choice. Come with us. Or don't." She turned around, and sashayed out the door.

I looked sadly at the defeated old fool I had once admired, then walked after Kerrigan.

I heard a sigh come from behind me, and then Warfield's heavy footsteps following us.

…

Once we had seen Warfield safely to his new cell on the Leviathan and I had gotten out of that cumbersome marine suit, I called a meeting in the head of the Leviathan.

"All the Terrans have departed, as promised," Izsha informed us. "Char belongs to the Swarm once again."

"Excellent." I answered. "Then is there anything left to stop us from beginning the long journey to Zerus?" I looked around the room.

"There is one thing," Izsha spoke up. "Most of the zerg remaining on other planets will obey your orders. But one broodmother, Nafash, has also rebelled, taking her brood to the ice planet Kaldir. Protoss are rumored to live there."

"Then she's a Protoss problem now," I replied. "We have enough forces without her. At least, more than we would have after tangling with the Protoss. If that is all…" no one interrupted, so I continued, "then let us make the necessary preparations and depart this planet. Load this Leviathan with as many Zerg as we can, though leave the infested here some defenses in case the Dominion decides to go back on their word."

"It will be done as you command," Izsha declared.

Business concluded, I relaxed, and noticed Kerrigan staring intently at Zagara. "You are troubled, Zagara," she stated.

I couldn't read any particular emotion in Zagara's insectoid face, so I suspected Kerrigan was sensing her emotions telepathically.

"Yes, my queen," Zagara began respectfully. "How was it that you were able to beat this Terran force, when I tried and failed for weeks? What must I evolve to imitate your strength?"

Kerrigan smiled smugly. "Vision, Zagara," she announced. "I defeated Warfield not through numbers, or strength. I simply possessed vision and he did not."

My pride was wounded a little by her saying "I" rather than "we" (though I had to admit victory was mostly thanks to Kerrigan), so I chimed in. "I mean, the numbers and strength definitely helped."

Kerrigan growled, but Zagara replied before she could retort. "Vision, is this like cunning?"

Kerrigan turned back to her. "No," she answered.

"Really?" I piped up, genuinely confused. "It's gotta be a little like cunning, surely."

"Viciousness, then?" Zagara asked.

Kerrigan shook her head. "No."

"What do you mean by vision, then, Kerrigan?" I asked. "I don't think you're using the word the same way I would."

Kerrigan frowned at me. "I mean the ability to see multiple solutions to a problem, Magis. To consider alternatives. Like how we noticed the dormant scourge nests."

"Ah…" I nodded, understanding now. "I call that circumspection."

Kerrigan frowned. "Circumspection means cautiousness, Magis," she said in a quiet threatening tone. "I'm not talking about cautiousness. I'm talking about vision."

My turn to frown. "It doesn't mean cautiousness, not exactly. I had to take some ancient Latin at the officer academy. 'Circum' means 'around,' and 'spect' means 'to see or look.' So 'circumspection' is literally to look around, to see the options."

"I don't care what you think it means!" Kerrigan exploded, her patience worn thin.

"Point is, we won because we had vision!"

"Warfield did display a surprising narrowmindedness," I said, scratching my chin thoughtfully. "But I actually think the reason we won is chiefly your psionically overpowered self. Zagara's ability to shoot acid spines can't possibly compare to your ability to shoot massive energy blasts everywhere. If you hadn't fought alongside your swarm… it would probably have been stopped at some point."

Kerrigan didn't seem sure how to react to my comment. On the one hand, she appreciated my compliment, but on the other, I had contradicted her own diagnosis. Finally, she rolled her eyes. "Just get out of here, Magis," she said. "I'm going to take Zagara to the evolution pit. We'll see if the Abathurs can't improve her."

"Their work hurts," Zagara complained, but she followed Kerrigan out the door that led to the evolution pit.

I sighed, then started making my way towards the cells. I hadn't gotten a chance to check in on Nova when I was escorting Warfield there.

I was nearly halfway to the cells, wandering through a dimly lit hallway, when it happened. Everything went dark. Black as night. The only thing I could hear was the fluttering of a cloak. Then two glowing green eyes appeared, lighting up the accompanying face just enough to recognize it. Somehow, Zeratul was here.


	36. With Friends Like These

I did the rational thing: screamed and jumped back, putting as much space as possible between my fleshy self and the dark assassin.

Then I noticed he had not ignited his psi-blade. In fact, he didn't move at all.

"Zeratul?" I asked cautiously. He didn't reply. "Why are you here?"

His eyes fixed on me. "You must believe," he said slowly.

I furrowed my brow, my body still tense and ready to run if necessary. "Believe what?"

"I have been to the beginning," Zeratul began murmuring.

I hesitated. Was this a trick? Had Zeratul gone mad? "What beginning, Zeratul?" I asked slowly.

"Zerus, birthplace of the Zerg…" Zeratul continued as though I hadn't said anything.

"We already know about Zerus, Zeratul," I cut him off, relaxing a bit now that I had an idea about why he was here. "We're on our way there now."

That got his attention. "You… know of Zerus?" Zeratul asked, surprised.

"Yes, we're heading there to look for primordial zerg DNA, from before the Xel'Naga altered the zerg. So we can infest ourselves again away from Amon's control."

"How?" Zeratul whispered. "Have you also read the prophecies?"

I frowned. "Don't think so. But it's obvious, isn't it? No need for your… cryptic help. Are you feeling okay, Zeratul? You seem a bit more… addled than I remember."

Zeratul shook his head. "You are on the path, and no longer need my guidance. You will not see me again." He threw his cloak over himself and slunk away. The lights returned as he left.

"Uh… you never actually gave any guidance!" I called out after him, my courage returning in full now that the danger seemed past. "It's like you're trying to act the part of the wise old mentor, but you're not, you're just acting crazy!" I paused, breathing heavily as the adrenaline buzz wore off. I looked around briefly, then shouted back towards the now-empty hallway: "Also, how the hell did you get on my ship?!"

…

It had been a long day. That strange conversation had exhausted the last of my energy, and I retired to my chambers. No longer Zerg, I had to sleep again, and that meant being alone with all the thoughts that raced through my head at a million miles an hour until oblivion finally took me.

My thoughts tonight started, unsurprisingly, with Zeratul. What in the name of Earth had happened to him? Last I heard, he was trying to piece together the prophecy on Ulaan, and Kerrigan hadn't reported him acting oddly. But now he seemed a little insane. Gotten too close to a malfunctioning Xel'Naga relic, perhaps? In any case, it made me feel quite satisfied to realize that as long as I was part of this little adventure we wouldn't need to be the pawns of prophecies to achieve our goals. That wouldn't make for a very good story. Prophecies are crutches used by storytellers who lack the imagination or intelligence to make their characters solve problems naturally. I refused to let the story that future generations of infested bards will sing about me be like that.

So I decided I would just ignore Zeratul. I'd hide his visit from Kerrigan, as best one can hide something from a telepath, and we would proceed as normal. I thought briefly about trying to catch and kill him, to finish what we had started so many years ago, but if he somehow got safely inside this massive Leviathan, he could somehow get safely out. Besides, one crazy Protoss shouldn't be much of a threat.

If only he could be infested, like Warfield and Nova. I wondered what they would look like when they were infested. Would Nova look like Kerrigan? Would our relationship be similar? Would she like me? Would she survive the coming conflict? Would any of us die? Would I see my family again, if I died? Would I experience true oblivion? Would I emerge from some new chrysalis? Would Nova…

Adrift in a sea of such thoughts and questions, I finally settled into an uneasy sleep.

…

When I awoke, I dressed in my stolen officer's uniform, forced down some disgusting creep Abathur had modified for Terran consumption, and made my way to the head of the Leviathan. Even though it had been years since the last time I'd been human, I still felt a little gross not being able to brush my teeth or take a shower, but if I was going to be infested in a few days anyway, personal hygiene wasn't high on my list of priorities.

Izsha announced that the warp route had been calculated, so I ordered her to initiate the jump. Thankfully, the location of Zerus was still known to the Zerg hivemind, so we didn't have to worry about losing our way. But the planet was still far, far away from the Koprulu sector. Most Zerg warp jumps took minutes. This one would take hours. Still, better than the days it would take with modern Terran technology, or the years it would have taken with the ancient Terran tech used in the colony ships that first brought Terrans from Earth to the Koprulu sector.

That thought comforted me a little when the unpleasant twisting sensation began.

After the first hour, I got used to the sensation enough to move around normally without feeling sick. Since my visit to Nova got interrupted the night before, I thought I'd go check on her.

"What do you want now, Magus?" Nova asked when I arrived outside her cell door. She was lying down with her eyes closed, so she must have sensed my approach psionically. Her voice was strained, indicating that the warp speed induced nausea in her too.

"Just to talk," I answered, sitting down outside the membrane door.

"Right," Nova said skeptically. "That's why you're imagining me naked."

My cheeks reddened. It had just been a fleeting thought! "Sorry!" I apologized quickly. "It seems my deinfestation gifted me with a certain annoying youthfulness."

"Well, that's a new excuse, at least," Nova answered, sitting up slowly and turning to look at me. "And this is the most bored I've ever been, as far as I can remember. Although thanks to the memory wipes, that's not very far. I'll talk."

I nodded. "Thanks. There's something I've been wondering. When we met on Char, you were teleporting around. How'd you do that?"

Nova smiled. "Prototype equipment. I am… or was… the Dominion's top ghost. Has its perks."

"But you didn't have it when we faced you in that Umojan station."

Nova scowled. "Wouldn't be here if I had." She sighed. "Kerrigan broke it when those spikes pierced my suit. Techs hadn't fixed it yet."

I barked out a laugh.

Nova glared at me. "And then you crushed my domination visor. And abandoned my custom-built shotgun. And your slug monster destroyed my extremely expensive environment suit. If I ever get back to the Dominion, my handler is going to give me the lecture of a lifetime."

I laughed again. "I suppose they would. Lucky for you, you won't be going back to the Dominion. Once you're infested, you can have all the prototype evolutions you like."

"So you keep claiming," Nova replied, scowling. "But how much longer are you going to make me wait in this cramped cell?"

"Not long now," I answered, smiling. "And does that mean you're coming around on the idea?"

Nova scoffed. "I'm just sick of the food your slugs keep giving me. Tastes like sewer sludge."

"Yeah, I don't like it much either. But it's not like we raise crops or livestock here," I said. "And adapting creep to Terran physiology couldn't have been easy. But I'll speak to Abathur, see if he can't make it more pleasant for you."

Nova looked oddly at me. "You mean that. You're giving me the same food you give yourself, and you care about how tasty I find it. Why? No one in the Dominion military would care about the quality of the rations of an elite operative. Why would you care about the rations of a prisoner?"

"Why wouldn't I?" I countered. "Not everyone is just out to serve themselves."

"Could have fooled me," Nova muttered. "Anyway, between this and our last conversation, I am beginning to think I was wrong about you. You seem like a good man, or a better man than most, at least. Perhaps you're right about infestation too. I'm willing to stick around and find out. This cell really is cramped, though. Would you please let me out? I'd be ever so grateful…" she put her hands together pleadingly.

I smiled and shook my head. "I wish I could, but I'm afraid I'm also smarter than most men. Moment I let you out of here, you'll try to escape. Not that it'll do you much good. We're warping away from the Koprulu sector right now. We left the dropship you came here in on Char, so unless you know how to pilot a giant Zerg monster, you won't be able to get back."

"Well, then you have nothing to lose," Nova replied hopefully.

"Except my life," I said. "I'm not yet so certain of your intentions that I'd be willing to risk facing you in combat. Even disarmed, you're clearly a threat."

Nova sighed. "I suppose I should take that as a compliment. Fine. At least tell me, why are we leaving the Koprulu sector?"

"We're going to infest the Earth."

The voice wasn't mine. It was Kerrigan's. She sauntered over to us from the hallway where she had appeared.

"I thought I might find you here, Magis," she said smiling. "Enjoying your new toy?"

I frowned. What was Kerrigan trying to accomplish?

"She'll soon be a valued ally, Kerr," I answered. "Why speak in such a manner?"

Kerrigan cocked her head, looking intently at me. Then she smiled. "I see… anyway, I just got back from taunting General Warfield, and he let slip something interesting. Valerian's hold over the Dominion isn't as strong as we might have thought. His failures against us, especially our recent escape, are leading to rebellions and declarations of independence."

I shrugged. "Hardly surprising. Is that all you came here to say?"

Nova interrupted, "Wait, General Warfield is a prisoner too? Why would he tell you anything?"

Kerrigan smiled cruelly. "Indeed. His mouth is tight-lipped, but his thoughts less so."

Nova groaned. "Then you must be stronger than I had thought. But surely you're not actually attacking Earth? The UED must have only been a fraction of Earth's strength."

I smiled and shook my head. "No. We're headed to Zerus, the ancient home world of the Zerg." I glared at Kerrigan. "I don't know why Kerrigan would lie to you." Actually, I had a pretty good idea why. Kerrigan was jealous.

Kerrigan humphed and stormed off.

"Excuse me, Nova," I said, then I chased after her.

"No, by all means, don't let me keep you!" Nova called out wryly from her cell.

I quickly caught up to Kerrigan and grabbed her arm. She turned around swiftly, an angry look in her eye, and violently wrenched her arm out of my grip. "What do you want, Magus?" Kerrigan demanded.

"To talk," I said calmly, trying not to escalate the situation.

"Talk to your new friend," she replied, derisively emphasizing the word 'friend.'

"I want to talk to you." I answered.

The anger seemed to leave her eyes and her posture relaxed. "Fine," she said. "Here I am."

A dozen strategies for how to handle this conversation ran through my head. I considered and discarded the idea of arguing I shouldn't be so important to her - my survival at the moment depended on my being important to her. Then I wondered about confronting her on her feelings directly. But she'd probably deny them and get angry again. Something more roundabout? Could be worth a try.

"Magis?" Kerrigan inquired when I hesitated.

I took a deep breath. "Kerr, we've been friends for a long time now. A bond formed between us while we served the Overmind together, and that bond was never broken. But now that we are Terran again, it seems that bond is being tested. There's been... tension, I suppose, between us lately. That scares me. I don't want anything to happen to our bond. We need each other. Do you agree?"

Kerrigan hesitated. "Yes," she said finally.

"Then we have nothing to fear," I said reassuringly. "I won't leave you. And you won't leave me. Am I right?"

Kerrigan scowled. "Why do you spend so much time on that ghost, then? Your thoughts are full of her."

I sighed. "I'm a young human male again, and she's a beautiful woman in her underwear imprisoned in my dungeon. Of course I'm thinking of her. That doesn't have to mean anything for us."

Kerrigan was silent, a thoughtful expression on her face.

I paused. This next move I really had to think about. It was a risk. If it went wrong, the consequences could be disastrous. But the events of the past few minutes finally convinced me that the disastrous consequences weren't as likely as I had thought them to be.

"Kerr, we are both human again." Her eyes snapped back to mine. "And our lives are not in danger at the moment. We have a chance to move beyond flirting, to have a real relationship. A… romantic relationship. Is that something you want?" My eyes scanned Kerrigan's.

There was a long pause. Kerrigan's gaze moved to the floor. "I am sorry, Magis. I can't."

She… can't? That suggested some part of her wanted it, which made me sigh in relief. But why couldn't she? The only thing I could think of that might be holding her back… ah.

I cupped her chin and pulled her eyes back up to meet mine, scanning them for proof. There it was. The wistfulness, the remembering. "You still love Raynor," I said finally.

Kerrigan nodded, and her words tumbled out in a flood. "Ever since I turned human again, I keep half-expecting Jim to be there. Every time I turn around, maybe that cocky grin will be greeting me. I miss him terribly. It wasn't as bad as a Zerg. Zerg bodies aren't made to feel love. This one is. And it still loves him, like it did before any of this happened. I'm sorry, Magis. Please don't be upset."

I smiled and drew my hands back to my sides. "How could I be upset? I understand completely. Jim Raynor was an incredible man. Strong, kind, passionate, inspirational, and a born leader. Back on Mar Sara, I kept telling him that his talents were wasted as a mere marshal. He was a better commander than most of the Confederate generals. I'm not surprised you still love him."

Kerrigan nodded gratefully. "I never even had a chance to mourn him," she whispered. "The Overmind made me think of all Terrans as the enemy, and I'm only just recovering from that. At least we avenged him. Thanks for that."

I hadn't thought of it at the time, but maybe that's why I had felt such bloodlust during the fight with Mengsk, and never before or since. I had subconsciously desired vengeance for my friend. "Of course," I answered. "If I had let you spare him, you'd probably be insisting we chase after and kill him right now, even if we had to battle through every soldier in the Dominion."

Kerrigan chuckled lightly. "Probably," she agreed.

There was a pause.

"So, are we good, Kerr?" I asked finally. "I won't leave you, I promise. I understand why we can't be lovers, but we will always be friends and allies. You have no reason to worry about who else I give my attention to."

Kerrigan hesitated, staring at me. Perhaps she was deciding whether to trust me. Was it possible I would betray her? She had been betrayed by many people, most notably Mengsk, and had betrayed many others in turn (most notably Mengsk, again). As many assurances as I had given her from the beginning, she had to have harbored some doubts. I didn't have any, though. Even if I had a good reason to betray Kerrigan (and I couldn't even imagine what such a reason would look like), she was too powerful to cross, these days. I was more worried about Kerrigan betraying me. But this exchange constituted pretty strong evidence that she wasn't considering that. I doubted she could stand to be alone again. She'd become a monster.

Finally, Kerrigan nodded. "I think we understand each other," she said. "Neither of us could survive for long without the other. But the bond we share should make our enemies quake in fear."

I smiled. "Indeed."

A mass of flesh suddenly detached from the ceiling and extended down towards us.

It was so jarring that I screamed and jumped back a little.

"I apologize if I startled you," Izsha said as she stared at me.

I looked at Kerrigan. She was grinning. Of course, she would have sensed Iszha coming.

"We will exit warpspace in five standard minutes. Make any preparations you find necessary." Iszha retracted her head back into the Leviathan's ceiling.

I looked at Kerrigan. "Was she listening the whole time, or can she just burrow to wherever she wants in this ship?"

Kerrigan smiled wider, her eyes full of mirth. "Both," she answered.

"Of course."


	37. Waking the Ancient

Five minutes later, I arrived at the Leviathan's head dressed in my marine power suit.

"Since the Zerg assimilated all life on Zerus before leaving, this planet should be barren," I said as I walked in. "We might have to scour it for months before we find any remaining traces of Zerg-."

I stopped myself when I saw the planet through the window afforded by the Leviathan's eyes. It was green. But this was a rocky planet, not a gas giant. So either it was made mostly out of some unusual green mineral like malachite, or I was looking at a planet-spanning jungle.

Kerrigan gasped beside me. "So much life," she whispered.

I blinked. "Okay, so, that was wrong. Life on Zerus must be incredibly hardy. Iszha, send some overlords down to scout for us.

"It is already done," answered the tentacle-woman. "Initial reports suggest the jungle planet is home to many creatures, including some that bear telling similarities to us zerg."

"Can it really be that easy?" I whispered, mostly to myself. I continued more loudly, "So we just grab one of these animals and get Abathur to sequence its genome, and we're good, right?"

"Negative," the nearby Abathur answered. "Creature will have evolved different from Swarm. Incompatible sequences. Cannot assimilate. Must find sequences that predate Swarm's departure from planet. Common ancestor."

I groaned. "You have got to be kidding. This whole time, I assumed descendants of survivors would do. Now you're telling me we need to find DNA thousands of years old that has somehow been miraculously preserved, just as it was, without evolving along the way?"

"Affirmative," Abathur answered.

I sighed and rested my face in my hands. "Of course," I whispered to myself. "How will we ever find something like that in a planet-spanning jungle?"

Kerrigan stirred beside me. "I sense something," she spoke softly, staring at the planet. "A consciousness so ancient it predates even the overmind. It has power… but it's sleeping." She turned to me. "We must wake it up," she declared loudly. "If anything knows where to find Zerg DNA we need, this ancient thing will. It may even possess the right DNA itself."

I blinked a few times. "That's extremely convenient," I said finally. I focused on Kerrigan and furrowed my eyebrows. "Since when can you sense how old a mind is?"

"Since forever," Kerrigan replied matter-of-factly. "It's just never been relevant before. It's not that strange. You can sense roughly how old food is by tasting it."

I frowned. "To some extent, I suppose. Mostly I can just sense whether it's ripe or spoiled."

"Well, it's not like I could tell you precisely how old a Terran is," Kerrigan replied. "But when you sense a mind as old as the Overmind, or this thing… you can tell."

I hesitated, then shrugged. "Alright then. Izsha, take us down towards this… ancient sleeper."

"Right away," Izsha answered, after looking to Kerrigan for confirmation.

…

A few hours later, we had morphed a bustling hive cluster on top of a plateau surrounded by dense jungle. Nestled into the base of the plateau lay an enormous mouth. Just the mouth, gaping open, displaying rows upon rows of teeth. The rest of its body had to be underground.

"This is the ancient thing you sensed?" I asked Kerrigan as we looked down at it from the plateau.

"Yes," she replied. "I'm reaching out to its mind, but it's not responding."

"Does it possess the DNA we need, Abathur?" I asked hopefully.

The Abathur who had accompanied us to the planet's surface slithered up to the mouth, carefully touched part of its gums, then brought his hand to his own tiny mouth. He chewed a little, swallowed, then returned to us. "Negative," he reported. "Creature evolves as individual, not as generation. Self-regulates genetic code. Old as Queen declared; however, changed too much since then."

I paused. "It can control its own DNA? That's handy."

"We can worry about its evolution after we wake it up," Kerrigan said impatiently. "It slept through Abathur removing a small part of it. Don't know that attacking it myself will fare any better, and if I succeeded it might be too angry to talk to us. Any other ideas?"

I scratched my chin. "If that's the size of its mouth, the whole creature must be ridiculously huge. Leviathan-sized. Without creep, it must take a lot of biomass to feed something that big. So I'd wager it's hibernating to conserve energy. If we feed it, it'll probably awaken."

Kerrigan nodded. "As good a plan as any. I'll hunt around the jungle for biomass to throw into that mouth."

When we oversaw the morphing of our base on this plateau, I thought I could make out large shadowy figures in the jungle around us. Watching us. I caught a glance of a particularly tall one now, darting behind a tree at the edge of our base. "What do you sense out there?" I asked Kerrigan, a little nervous.

She glanced at the jungle. "Hunger," she answered, a determined expression on her face.

Before I could say anything more, a voice entered my consciousness. It felt like hivemind communication, but… wilder.

"Brakk speaks now!" declared the voice. "You intrude on my territory, corrupt zerg! We will devour your flesh!"

Kerrigan looked at me, smiling patronizingly. "Sounds like some jungle animal doesn't know what he's in for."

I looked back where I'd seen the shadowy figure, and made out a group of flying creatures emerging from the distant jungle and soaring towards us. "Let's not celebrate just yet. Our mutalisks are reconstituted, right? We should deploy them."

Kerrigan nodded, and soon a squad of mutas met the flying creatures in aerial combat. The wild fliers looked suspiciously like guardians, just smaller and greener. Also like guardians, they apparently possessed no anti-air attacks, and were swiftly torn apart by our mutalisks.

"More of these… primal zerg are massing nearby," Kerrigan commented. "I'll stop them while I get the biomass. You hold down the fort." Kerrigan launched herself into the air and disappeared in the jungle, followed shortly after by a group of zerglings and the mutalisks, and then, almost as an afterthought, by a few drones.

I didn't want to underestimate an unknown enemy, but I did find it hard to believe that any number of primal critters could be as dangerous as a trained military. Every so often Kerrigan would come back escorting a drone carrying some meat from slain jungle creatures, and order the drone to drop the meat into the monstrous mouth. Though many of her minions never made it back, she herself remained unscratched and just kept replacing the lost minions.

As for me, I watched for counterattacks from this 'Brakk' and other primal zerg who apparently followed his orders. I had to fend off incursions a couple of times, but our spore and spine crawlers, spare zerglings, and my own sword swiftly cut through the attacking creatures. I couldn't help but notice, though, that they generally attacked us with what seemed to be smaller and more colorful versions of our own zerg units.

I wandered over to an Abathur who had begun work in the base's evolution pit, and asked him about it.

"Abathur, didn't the Swarm evolve most of its strains after leaving Zerus? How did these primal zerg evolve very similar strains completely independently?"

"Designs stolen! Swarm on planet for hours, already being replicated! Sole possibility!" Abathur declared. His alien many-eyed face was as unreadable as ever, but his voice was extremely angry. Angrier than I'd ever heard it before. "Unacceptable! Must be wiped clean. No trace left. Destroy primal zerg!"

Woah. Not the reaction I was expecting. "You're upset?" I asked, confused. "I didn't think you could be upset."

"Unacceptable!" Abathur repeated. "Swarm's power: the ability to assimilate strengths of other species. Primal zerg must not take from us!"

"But how could they have?" I asked, confused. "We don't even have any guardians with the Leviathan. But the very first thing we were attacked with, within hours of disembarking, were primal guardians. How could they have possibly had time to steal a design from us that we don't even have with us?"

Abathur paused, his many eyes blinking one after another. Then he put an arm down and grabbed a fern off the ground, sticking it in his mouth. He chewed softly, swallowed, and finally spoke. "Have learned Zerus flora and fauna feed directly on essence. Assimilate strands and sequences through digestion. Guardian sequences remain in larvae. Sole conclusion: hatchery infiltrated. Larvae eaten, sequences shared with pack. Designs will spread when pack members digested by other primals. Unacceptable! Centuries carefully evolving designs. Whole species assimilated! Stolen in moments! Must be destroyed! Enemies must not possess Zerg essence!"

I held my hands up placatingly. "Alright, alright, Abathur. I take your point. We'll destroy the primals who've fed on our... essence. I'd much rather they stay jungle animals than risk a possible second swarm. One brood war was enough."

Abathur nodded, seemingly satisfied.

I wandered around the base a bit more, content to let the stronger Kerrigan see the bulk of the action, until finally, when she returned with biomass for the seventh time, Brakk's mental voice leapt into my consciousness again. "This ends now, corrupt zerg! I will kill you myself!"

A mass of creatures poured out of the jungle and rushed at our base, led by an enormous blue ultralisk-like creature.

Kerrigan and her army joined me and my defenders in repelling the assault. Fighters of both groups attacked, bled, and died, and all the while the leading blue monster cried out silly taunts, like "Your empty minions are no match for the might of the primal zerg!" and "I will feast upon your flesh!"

"Kerrigan, shut him up. Please," I asked once I got to close to her on the battlefield.

"Gladly," she answered. She turned and leapt upon the creative's back, her hands grabbing onto its tough hide. It roared and bucked, attempting to throw her off. Psionic energy crackled around her, then traveled through her arms directly into the creature. It screamed, thrashed, and finally collapsed. Kerrigan jumped off it, landing lightly on her feet, raised her gun, and sniped the last two jungle attackers.

I laughed out loud and whistled appreciatively. "Impressive work, Kerr," I commented.

She didn't look at me, but when she walked past me I saw that she was smiling.

Suddenly, I heard the creature with the enormous mouth stirring behind us. Kerrigan and I both rushed over to it, just in time to see a whole head erupt out of the ground.

"I return," the creature announced in a wizened telepathic voice.

"Ancient One!" Kerrigan called up to him in a demanding tone of voice. "We are here for the power of the ancient Zerg. You will help us."

The 'Ancient One' peered down at us. "Call me Zurvan," he rumbled slowly. He glanced at the battlefield, at the fallen zerg carcasses. He inhaled deeply. Finally, he spoke again. "Your Swarm smells of Amon, the fallen xel'naga who came to Zerus long ago. He forged the zerg into a weapon, and took them away. Yet some of us were hidden, overlooked. We multiplied. We remain pure. If you seek our power, you must become primal zerg. You must become pure."

"Yes, we are trying to become pure zerg, untainted by Amon," I spoke up. "To do so we need Zerg DNA that has remained unchanged ever since the Xel'Naga's intervention. Do you know where some might be found?"

Zurvan rumbled thoughtfully. "Travel to the birthplace of the zerg," he answered. "There you will be tested. You may be torn apart. If you are strong enough, the power of the ancient Zerg will be yours."

I nodded. "Makes sense. The birthplace of the Zerg would have ancient DNA. But where is it?"

Zurvan… smiled? Or maybe he just opened his mouth wider and showed off his teeth. Hard to tell. "You must feel the power. It calls to you. Go to it."

I blinked. "I don't…" I stopped myself when I glanced at Kerrigan. Her eyes were closed. She was focused on something. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. "I know where we need to go," she declared. "Come, Magis." She walked off towards our base.

I hesitated, looking back at Zurvan.

"You have questions?" Zurvan addressed me.

I turned to him. "It's just… What did Amon do to the Zerg, exactly, to interfere in their evolution? The primal zerg, like yourself, don't seem that different from us."

Zurvan smiled, or whatever it was, again. "He desired our strength, the ability to steal essence. But we were independent... we would not follow. And so he bound the zerg to a single overriding will. They lost their identity, and became his slaves."

I frowned. "The hive mind. That was the Xel'Naga intervention? Just the creation of the hivemind?"

Zurvan nodded his enormous head. "Yes. A terrible fate for a strong primal zerg."

I scoffed. "So much the worse for the primal zerg. The hivemind has to be among the best evolutions of any species. Your individuality causes you all to consume yourselves, while, once we infest everyone, we shall be forever at peace."

Zurvan said nothing, but continued smiling.

"Still," I continued, "If Amon invented the hivemind, that explains why he would be able to control us through it. Thank you."

Zurvan watched me with amusement in his eyes as I ran after Kerrigan.


	38. The Crucible

The Leviathan ferried us across the planet, and a couple overlords took us, an Abathur, and some drones the rest of the way into the dense jungle. Finally, we walked to the site that had called to Kerrigan. A large clearing in the middle of which lay…

"It's… a pool," said Kerrigan with some surprise.

"The first spawning pool," Zurvan's mental voice leapt into my consciousness. "It existed before names. From this primordial place, the zerg arose. Within, one essence split into many. One devoured another and became stronger. The first zerg."

Really? The species that had wrought such violent and widespread change on the Koprulu sector originated from this humble lake of green goo?

"Excellent," I commented. "The pool should have the DNA we need."

Zurvan's voice was disapproving. "Enter the pool. You will have your power, and you will lose yourself. Evolve. Transform. Transcend."

My eyes widened. Merely entering the pool could infest us? What WAS this green goo? A normal spawning pool would just kill us.

Abathur spoke up telepathically. "Recommendation: avoid pool. Catalytic fluid will overwhelm Terran body. Not strong enough."

Oh, maybe this would just kill us too, like a normal spawning pool. But… "Abathur, are you saying this pool could infest us if we were strong enough?"

"Possible," Abathur admitted. "Extremely painful. Violent change. Would succumb to trauma. If endured, infestation purer. More primal, more powerful."

"Then I will endure it," Kerrigan announced. "Nothing will stand between me and power!"

I shook my head, suddenly fearful for Kerrigan's life. "Kerr, why risk it? What do you hope to obtain?"

"The power to crush my enemies!"

"You already have that power!" I declared. "Remember what we did to Warfield? Who else are you afraid of? Arcturus is dead, Valerian is weak, we can take the Protoss. I don't know how strong the Xel'Naga is, but I highly doubt that the little strength we might gain by subjecting ourselves to this torment would be worth the risk. Let's just go with traditional infestation."

"My hate is strong enough," Kerrigan protested.

"Hate for what?" I asked. "Who is left to get revenge on? Besides, you were filled with hate during your last infestation, and that is part of what made you the vengeful Queen of Blades that you were! Leave that in the past, Kerr. Please. Let's just submit to an easy infestation, for the sake of the good it brings, for immortality, for peace, protection from Amon, and not merely so we have the power to do violence. That's no foundation on which to build a future!"

Kerrigan scowled, but she was silent, a thoughtful look in her eyes. Finally, she sighed. "You're right, Magis. Abathur," she addressed the Evolution Master telepathically, "Extract the DNA you need from this pool, and prepare a place for our infestation on the Leviathan."

"I obey," Abathur answered, and slithered towards the pool, lightly dipping his hands into the green goo.

Zurvan's mental voice chided us. "You will lose the true power of Zerus. Your shadowy imitation will weaken the essence."

That comment made me suspicious. Just why was Zurvan so invested in us attaining power? I got the feeling he was like a witch trying to fatten up children for the slaughter. "What does it matter to you, Zurvan?" I asked. "Planning on consuming our essence afterwards?"

Zurvan was silent a moment. Then he spoke slowly. "I have not evolved in many years. No essence on Zerus is worth my attention. I had hoped yours might be."

Kerrigan scoffed. "You wouldn't be able to defeat us anyway."

"That possibility is why it would be worth trying," Zurvan answered matter-of-factly. "Eat or be eaten. That is the law of the primal Zerg. But I have no desire to debase myself by consuming the weakened handiwork of your corrupted evolution master. This conversation is no longer worth my attention. Do what you will. I shall return to my slumber." Zurvan's voice trailed off into a ponderous sigh.

"Good riddance," Kerrigan muttered.

"The primal zerg are aware of our presence," Izsha warned. "Their attack will be upon us shortly."

Great. "Abathur, how long will this take?" I asked.

"Minutes. Not hours."

"Then we'll just have to hold them off until you finish."

Roughly twenty minutes later, hundreds of primal zerg were dead.

"Sequences assimilated, shared," Abathur announced. "Preparations complete."

"Then we must return to the Leviathan," I replied, breathing heavily from the exertion of the preceding battle. "Bring Nova and Warfield to the evolution pit as well."

... 

Soon, the four of us stood before hundreds of Abathurs in the massive evolution chamber of the Leviathan. A pool of zerg flesh and creep stretched across the room.

"So, this is it, then?" Nova asked sadly, her hands bound behind her back with a tough zerg goo that served as handcuffs.

"Do what you will," Warfield declared. "I will never serve you!"

"This is it," I replied. "And we'll see how you both feel when the process is complete. Abathur, you've ensured we will not be susceptible to Amon's influence, right?"

The nearest Abathur nodded his bulbous head. "Primal infestation preserves greater individuality. Hivemind connections retained, but not beholden to hivemind power structure. Not susceptible to overmind control signal. May still emit signal, control Swarm. Will also grant primal ability to directly consume essence. Respectable evolution."

"Good, good," I commented. "But what about them?" I gestured toward Nova and Warfield. "We still want to to be able to control them."

Abathur shrugged. "Must choose. If traditional infestation, must obey, susceptible to Xel'Naga influence should control signal cease. If primal infestation, free to rebel, immune to Xel'Naga influence."

I looked at my prisoners. Warfield stared back defiantly, but Nova watched me worriedly. There was a hard gleam in her eye, as though she was prepared to overpower us and escape at a moment's notice, but it was tempered by a soft expression that suggested she understood her weak position and was attempting to present herself as a non-threat.

"Please," Nova whispered just loudly enough for me to hear. "Don't make me a slave. You said I could be family. If I must be infested, let me be infested as a free agent."

I had to admit that would be more consistent with what I had promised her. And I respected Nova. She could easily be as powerful and useful as Kerrigan if she were also granted primal essence. But her will was far from broken. Though she tried to hide it, it was obvious to me she would still be a serious threat if she turned against us. She probably knew that, and could be scheming to betray us at the first opportunity. In fact, as I watched her, she glanced around the room uncomfortably, likely hoping a possible escape route would present itself to her.

But, even though it was clearly risky and quite possibly irrational, I desperately wanted to believe that we could be allies and equals. For whatever reason, I liked Nova.

I strode up to her and pushed my face close to hers. "Look at me," I commanded.

Nova moved her eyes to mine.

I scanned those eyes, staring at them for any hint of duplicity. They were guarded, mostly empty of expression, though a little spark of life was unable to be hidden.

I debated what to do for several long moments. Finally, I sighed. Only one possibility made sense to me. I refused to keep her with me against her will. That meant I had to give her the opportunity to leave.

"I'll make a deal with you, Nova," I declared, still staring into her eyes. "Narud and his Xel'Naga master wish to destroy all life, Terrans as well as Zerg. When we emerge, work with us to stop them. During that time, think of us as allies, friends, even family. Get a taste for the eternal life you could have with us. If when Amon is finally defeated you still want to leave, I will not stop you. As long as you do not fight against us again, we will never obstruct your freedom again."

Nova stared at me with curious eyes. "I'd still be infested," she said after a moment. "Doubt the Dominion would take me back as anything other than a test subject."

I nodded. "The Xel'Naga artifact could turn you human again, as it did us. One of the goals we will be working towards when we move to fight Narud will be discovering where he took the artifact. Help us get it back, and we'll let you use it to uninfest yourself, if you wish."

Nova paused in thought. Then she took a deep breath. "Very well, Magis. I'll take your deal."

"Wonderful," I smiled, though privately I wondered if I wasn't making a mistake. "Then we may begin. Abathur, infest Nova here with the primal essence, and infest Warfield in the traditional way."

"Will obey," answered a nearby Abathur.

"Don't resist," I warned the prisoners. "The process will be more painful if you do." Then I stepped out into the evolution pit, wading into the shallow pool of flesh.

Kerrigan, who had watched my interaction with Nova in curious silence, marched alongside me, and Nova and Warfield, the latter shoved along by zerg minions, followed.

We stood in the center of that pool for a long moment, a poetic moment, which held within itself the dignified promise of a beautiful eternity.

Then the Abathurs swarmed us like flies descending upon dead meat.


	39. Supreme

I woke up sputtering on the floor, my body coughing violently to try to clear my airways of zerg goop. When I recovered, I looked behind me and saw the tattered remnants of an egg-shaped chrysalis, the cocoon I had just emerged from.

I also saw Kerrigan. She stood breathing heavily over the destroyed remains of her own chrysalis, a triumphant gloating grin on her face and her eyes glowing purple fire. That's not a metaphor. Glowing purple fire was literally emerging from her eyes. And the rest of her body… it was harsh and zerg again, with claws, wings, and a carapace, but her skin… the skin on her torso and her face looked so human, albeit twinged with purple. She looked more attractive than she had as the spiky green-tinted "Queen of Blades."

I climbed unsteadily to my feet. Visions danced in my head, of jungle chases and rapid painful evolution. Dreams from the chrysalis, I presumed.

"Awaken, my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright," I murmured to myself as I stretched my new wings. Except it didn't feel like a birthright, this time. This power wasn't given to me. It was earned. It was a rush… the power... I felt like a predator who had chased down an animal over several hours, and stood now well-fed over the body of its prey.

I basked in the feelings of satisfaction and power until I heard a cracking noise behind me. As I turned, I saw a third egg-chrysalis split into pieces as a third individual emerged. Nova. She looked rather like Kerrigan, though colored white-gold instead of purple. There were some other smaller differences: her light-grey tentacle-hair was straighter, the golden glow of her eyes dimmer, her carapace-covered body slightly slimmer. And her expression was much softer.

As Nova bent over, hands on her knees, panting from the exertion of the hatching, I grew curious about my own appearance. I spotted an Abathur admiring his work at the end of the room, and reached out telepathically to see what he saw. Pleased with my success, for the first time since my deinfestation I peered through Abathur's many eyes. I saw an old grizzled creature. Short inky black tentacle-hair covered my head and parts of my face, giving me the appearance of a small beard. My eyes glowed a somber dark orange, my skin tinted with the color of burnished copper. Most excitingly, I had my wings back. I unfurled them and channeled psionic energy through the bony featherless appendages to hover slightly off the ground. I had missed the sensation.

The Abathur spoke happily to me. "Genetic strands different. Restructured from base level up. Stronger than before. Sequences complex but clean. Completely different at core."

He sounded quite proud of himself. "Yes, thank you, Abathur," I replied, noticing a slight echo to my voice, just enough to make the sound not fully human. "I am glad the primal DNA was not beyond your comprehension."

Abathur nodded. "Not full replication. But sufficiently similar."

"Either way," I commented, a faraway look in my eye. "The former magistrate is finally infested once again. Time to get to work."

…

After I checked on Kerrigan, Nova, and Warfield, we all made our way to the head of the Leviathan. The first thing I noticed was that a massive primal zerg stood on one side of the room, conversing with Izsha.

"Izsha," I interrupted, walking towards the two. "What is a primal zerg doing on the Leviathan?"

The creature inclined its head towards me and my group in a respectful bow and spoke before Izsha could. "I am Dehaka, one who collects. I kill. I take essence. Now I come to you because I feel your change. All Zerus feels it. All Zerus fears it, and you."

His voice was scratchy and slow, like it traveled through a paper shredder before leaving his mouth.

Kerrigan spoke up. "But you don't fear us, do you, Dehaka? If you did, you wouldn't be here."

"You shine," Dehaka replied. "You will bring more essence, and I will follow. When you do not, I will not."

Kerrigan glanced at me, noticing my thoughtful expression. Then she turned back to Dehaka. "Well, we've forged alliances on shakier ground than that," she commented.

"I don't know," I commented hesitantly. "Fighting a common enemy in the UED, the ground for our former alliance with Mengsk, strikes me as a bit sturdier than the desire to eat powerful things. Still, you do seem useful. Tell me, Dehaka, how did you get aboard this ship?"

Dehaka growled thoughtfully. "I took essence of overlord. I boarded, I flew. Leviathan believed me part of your brood."

I took a deep breath. "And when did this happen? When we first arrived, did you take the essence of one of our scouting overlords and board the Leviathan? Did you take the essence of a larva here, and then share it with the primal packs?"

Dehaka's eyes widened. A guilty expression flickered across his face. "Your arrival meant new essence," he declared. "Intended to keep for self. When I returned to the ground, Brakk's pack saw me, stole Larvae I took alive. Too many to stop."

"Great," I muttered. "And now we have to clean up your mess. But I think you're sincere. You just want new essence? And now that you see our power, you think we're your ticket to it?"

Dehaka nodded. "Essence is change. Change is survival. Evolve and live. Stagnate and die."

I glanced at Kerrigan, who smiled. "Very well," I said, returning my gaze to the giant primal zerg. "You can stay. But if you betray us, it will be us who collect your essence."

"Yes," Dehaka answered, as though that were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Do the pack leaders who stole our essence think as you do?" I asked Dehaka as a new thought occurred to me. "Will they seek to join us now too?"

Dehaka shook his head. "They are a rock, a tree, a hill. They will stand against the wind. They seek power."

"And you?" Kerrigan prompted.

"I am a river, I will flow. I seek essence."

"Well, the pack leaders have no chance against the Swarm now," Kerrigan declared.

"They gather essence for thousands of years," Dehaka replied. "They are blinded. But they are not foolish."

"In any case," I broke in. "Our next order of business is to destroy them. We don't want the primals to have our essence, especially the essence of the space-faring strains. Let's keep them restricted to Zerus. Dehaka, do you know which packs have our essence and where they hide?"

Dehaka nodded. "My pack spies. Knows neighbors well."

"Then lead the way." I turned to the rest of my companions. "Izsha, teach Warfield how to control the Swarm, like Zasz and Daggoth taught me so long ago. Warfield, you'll be overseeing the defense of the Leviathan. Should be an easy job, just don't let the enemy primals attack it or sneak aboard. Nova, Kerrigan, with me. Let's show these primals which kind of Zerg is supreme."

"Looking forward to it," Nova commented tonelessly.

…

The next several hours were spent traipsing about the jungle destroying every primal zerg we came across and consuming their essence. We quickly discovered we had all our old powers back and more. Well, Kerrigan couldn't cloak anymore, but she was powerful enough now that she shouldn't ever need to. She could leap on, psionically crush, kinetically blast, and furiously claw any enemy in her way.

I had my mending ooze ability again, but with a new and improved delivery mechanism based on primal essence: I could spray the ooze to heal in an area. I also still had my mind control ability, but now I could direct it at nearby allies to send them into a frenzy, increasing their attack speed. And my acid spit had apparently been infected with microbes that, after making contact with an enemy's bloodstream, rapidly grew into little zerg broodlings.

Nova, meanwhile, discovered that she had inherited the hydralisk's ability to store spines within her body and launch them out of holes in her carapace (covered by bony flaps when not in use) at enormous speeds. The spines were much smaller than a hydralisk's, of course, as a hydralisk was a larger creature, and she couldn't rapid-fire volleys of them like a hydralisk. Rather, she could shoot one at a time with pinpoint precision over a vast distance, much like when used a Terran sniper rifle, or she could shoot a bunch of them out indiscriminately over a cone-shaped area in front of her, much like when she used a Terran shotgun. Furthermore, she could instead launch a viscous fluid filled with tiny zerg cells that would pool together and form themselves into an organic decoy of Nova. The decoy looked just like her and would move randomly back and forth, carelessly launching spines, to distract the enemy for a few minutes, after which the cells would run out of energy, try to eat each other, and disintegrate.

Abathur had my respect. There was some clever organic engineering displayed in our new bodies, and we put it to good use, destroying all the packs that had stolen swarm essence. Dehaka and his pack joined us, and together even the enormous leaders of the enemy packs fell before us quickly. Dehaka told us the names of these leaders, but they weren't interesting enough to remember, and despite all their taunting in battle, they got slaughtered like the animals they were. We consumed their essence when they fell, and it was an invigorating experience. The effect of the essence on me was rather similar to the effect coffee had as a Terran, but even stronger. I felt alert and powerful during the whole course of our rampage through the jungle. Then, finally, Dehaka informed me that we had killed the last of the primals who had stolen our essence.

"Zerus is now ours," Kerrigan announced in response to the news. "Izsha, prepare the Leviathan. It's time the Swarm returned to the Korulu sector."

"Indeed," I agreed. "We must find Narud and stop him. We tried infesting him, back when he was Duran. That doesn't work on Xel'Naga, apparently. So we have to kill him."

"The essence must flow," Dehaka declared firmly.

"Let's just get this done," Nova said in a tired tone of voice.

…

During the long warp jump back to the Koprulu sector, I checked on each of my allies. First, Kerrigan started working with Izsha to try to track down and contact the other broodmothers that had been left scattered after our deinfestation on Char. I left them to their work.

Abathur was ecstatic that we had destroyed the Primal zerg who had stolen his designs, and began looking at me with the admiration of a creator proud of one of their most magnificent creations. It was kinda creepy. He also talked excitedly about some of the strains of zerg that the primals had inspired him to design and evolve, like the "viper."

Zagara was deep in thought. When I asked her what she was thinking about, she replied that she wanted to learn how to be as clever and "visionary" as me and Kerrigan. I talked strategy and philosophy with her for some time, finding her a better conversationalist about issues such as the advantages of infesting over killing than even Kerrigan.

Warfield was military about the whole affair. The Abathurs had infested him more like Stukov than like me or Kerrigan, so he did not have wings, but he did have a couple writhing tentacles erupting from his back and one of his arms. When I approached him, Warfield addressed me with a formal "sir," and stood at attention, even stilling those tentacles. I interrogated him about his post-infestation perspective, and found that, like Kerrigan, Stukov, and myself before him, he accepted now that he was part of the Swarm and sought only to serve its interests. He did not seem at all interested in being friendly, though, just in being a good soldier. Perhaps not all of his former resentment towards us had been infested away.

As for Nova… she seemed depressed. I tried to ask her about how her Zerg body felt, and she just gave brief non-noncommittal answers ("it's fine"). I tried to telepathically sense her thoughts, but she disconnected herself from the hive mind and threw up a psionic barrier to bar me entry.

"Nova," I said to her. "If you cut yourself off from all that the Zerg have to offer, you won't have an accurate experience. Please try to keep an open mind about this. You seem troubled. Let me help you."

Nova sighed. "Alright," she said finally. "Fine. It's not like there's anyone else I can talk to." I felt her mind slowly reconnect to the hive mind, allowing me access to her surface emotions.

"You're not sure what you want," I stated simply.

She nodded. "Things are usually so clear for me. Get in, get the job done, kill the bad guy, get out. That, or training for that, has been my life for as long as I can remember. They didn't train me to make these kinds of choices."

"I understand," I spoke sympathetically, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to have the answers now. You have time to work through your conflicted feelings. For now, here's the assignment: get in, kill Narud, get out. He threatens both Terrans and Zerg, so no matter what you choose this is a mission you can accept unreservedly. You with me?"

Nova smiled, and I thought I saw a spark of life return to her eyes. "Very well, Magis. I'm with you. Let's get the job done."

…

Soon after we exited warp space, Izsha reported that a distant broodmother had picked up a psionic signal. The signal carried a short verbal message and set of stellar coordinates. Izsha broadcast the message for us.

"I have found Narud's hybrid. If you wish to stop them, meet me at these coordinates.

The voice was garbled, shadowy, but recognizable. It was Stukov.


	40. Hand of Darkness

"Does anyone know what Stukov meant by 'hybrid'?" I asked once we had all gathered at the head of the Leviathan.

Kerrigan nodded. "Abominations created from Zerg and Protoss DNA intertwined."

I stared dumbfounded. "What? How could such an unnatural hybrid be viable? And more importantly, how did you know that?"

"They helped Narud escape with the artifact, back when you were unconscious," came Kerrigan's reply. "As for their viability, I imagine those who created the Zerg and the Protoss would understand how to safely create a mixture of the two. Besides, they are far more than viable. They are deadly. None of Valerian's forces could stop them."

I groaned. "It sure would have been nice to have known about this earlier, Kerrigan."

"Why?" she asked, annoyed. "It hasn't come up."

"No, but it could have. What if hybrid attacked the Leviathan? A strategist needs as much tactical information as they can get. That certainly includes the kind of enemies they are likely to face."

"You have the intel now," said Nova impatiently. "I read the reports. They're as deadly as Kerrigan says. Is there any reason why we're not warping to Stukov's coordinates right now?"

Surprised and somewhat encouraged by Nova's apparent return to her normal self, I paused before answering. "No. You're right. Let's link back up with Stukov and stop these things. Izsha?"

"Right away," replied the tentacle-woman, and I felt the squeezing sensation of warp travel once more.

...

"What have you been up to, Stukov?" I asked when the infested Terran stepped smartly into the head of Leviathan, joining the rest of the zerg leaders. "Why haven't we heard from you since the battle for the Xel'Naga artifact on Char?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he answered, gesturing towards me and Kerrigan. "I see you have become Zerg once more. And acquired new allies." Here he gestured at Nova, Warfield, and Dehaka. "You will have to regale me with the tale later." He looked back towards me. "My own report is that I was worried that the artifact's pulse would kill me by returning me to the dying Terran body I inhabited just before infestation. So once we broke into the Terran base I took an overlord into orbit to escape the energy pulse."

I doubt that's the only reason he ran from the artifact, I thought to myself. Since it gave me a healthier, younger body, it's safe to say the pulse would have done the same for Stukov, not reverted him to a bleeding corpse. He had to have known that receiving a healthy human body was at least a possibility. Which means… he didn't want it. Why not? Is he… yes, he must be. He's afraid that a fully Terran Stukov wouldn't be able to cope with the loss of his friend Gerard and all else he held dear. At least infested he has the Swarm. Terran, he has no one. Interesting.

"Once in orbit, I spotted a Moebius Corps. ship observing the fight," Stukov continued while I ruminated. "Fearing Narud's interference, I attacked it, and pursued when it fled. It led me to this facility, and right into the hands of its waiting defenders. They captured me, experimented on me. I only just escaped."

"I see," I said when Stukov finished. "And the hybrid?"

"The hybrid, and likely Narud himself, dwell in the lab buried at the heart of Skygeirr station," Stukov answered, placing an infested arm on one of the Leviathan's walls, causing a holographic map of the station to display on the wall. One of the Leviathan's many useful evolutions. "To assault the lab," Stukov continued, "we must first dislodge Moebius Corps' many defenses. As you can see, it is probably the second most heavily defended location in Terran space, after Korhal itself."

"So they got a lot of marines," Kerrigan responded dismissively. "We'll use those numbers against them."

"Agreed," I said. "Abathur, it's finally time to break out those mass infestation strains you designed. Let's convert this place to the Swarm before Narud even knows what's happening."

"Affirmative," replied the Abathur representative with us in the command room. "Infestors and virophages prepared for deployment."

"Wonderful." I turned to address the rest of the group. "This is it, my friends," I said in my best "inspiring speech" voice. "We get in, destroy the hybrid, kill Narud, and stop Amon, making the galaxy safe for the immortal infested once more. Warfield, guard the Leviathan. Zagara, set up and defend a forward base on the platform at the first available opportunity. Kerrigan, Nova, Dehaka, and Stukov, with me. Let's get this party started."

...

Soon, a handful of droppods crashed into the space platform. Kerrigan, Nova, Dehaka, Stukov, myself, and a few infestors all spilled out of the debris one after the other, rushing the nearby defenses. We slaughtered our way to the garrison, and the infestors set to work morphing a virophage. Moments later, tendrils of creep and zerg flesh began slithering throughout the garrison, grabbing and infesting every Terran they encountered.

This infestation had been designed to be fast, like Stukov's infestation, not powerful like the rest of ours. The infested would still be immortal, and retain their sapience, but they would not be any deadlier than they were as Terrans. Still, they would be loyal, and that was what mattered here.

Once the garrison was fully infested, I gave the order. "Move out! Newly infested, file in behind us. It's time to spread this plague to the next garrison!"

A second garrison fell before Moebius leadership recognized what was happening. We were starting for a third garrison when they finally retaliated. Not with soldiers, no, that would have been too easy, so of course it would be just our luck that they retaliated with chemical warfare. A toxic gas began billowing out of vents in the platform, and all the infested who breathed it in began coughing violently and then collapsing, dead.

When I witnessed this happening the first time, the infested we were escorting dropping lifeless to the ground, I began searching frantically for a path away from the gas. But there were too many vents. The gas crept towards us, and there was no escape. "Don't breathe," I warned the others, but we couldn't hold our breath forever. Was this how we would finally be defeated? Not through military might, but through chemical trickery?

"Not vulnerable to gas," Abathur's mental voice spoke up. "Toxic elements purified by lung biofilters. Evolution not present in virophage-created infested."

Oh… maybe I was wrong about our luck. That was awfully convenient. I immediately let out the breath I had been holding and gratefully gulped down the gas-ridden air.

"How did they develop a gas like that?" Nova asked when she had caught her breath as well. "It targets only this specific strain of infested Terran? But they couldn't have even known this strain existed until a few minutes ago, right?"

It was a good question, and I suddenly realized the answer. I turned to Stukov, whose face was slowly turning purple. Well, more purple than usual.

"Get him an overlord!" I commanded. "Now!"

"On it," said Kerrigan, and an overlord with a metabolic speed evolution came zooming over from the base Zagara had begun to construct on the platform, picking up Stukov with its tentacles and sticking him in its ventral sacs.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I sensed Stukov gasping for breath in the clean air of the overlord. He wouldn't die just yet.

"Stay there for now and recover," I ordered Stukov telepathically. "We'll contact you when we get to the lab."

"So… does someone want to explain?" Nova asked.

"They learned about infestation from experimenting on Stukov," I replied tiredly. "He was infested with the same fast-acting strain as these poor souls." Here I gestured at the infested bodies around us. "So that was the strain the Moebius Corps. could develop a chemical weapon against."

"Hmm, I see," Nova answered, humming thoughtfully. "Well, we can't use the infested for our assault as long as this gas keeps spewing out. Any ideas?"

"They'll run out of gas eventually," Kerrigan said confidently. "We can make our move then."

"Probably," I agreed. "But we have no way of knowing how much they've stockpiled. For now, let's morph a more traditional army."

...

We defended the virophages we planted from Moebius attacks as we built up our army, and when we had enough minions, we pushed forward into the Moebius defenses. Another garrison fell, and as the gas apparently could not be pumped into the buildings themselves (the ventilation systems of the platform and of the garrisons were not connected to one another), we could safely infest the marines inside.

We pressed on, Kerrigan psionically ripping apart squads, Nova sniping high-value targets, Dehaka eating the enemies with strong essence, and our minions swarming over everyone else. Me, I concentrated on keeping everyone healthy, and soon another garrison fell before our might.

At some point during the battle, Moebius Corps finally ran out of gas and the platform's air supply cleared up. We barely noticed, though. Even without the infested, we were too powerful. For the second-most heavily defended location in Terran space, we were sure rampaging through their security.

Finally, we made it to the elevator to the labs. I contacted a recovered Stukov, and together we prepared to enter the heart of the facility.

"There's a good chance Narud himself will be waiting for us," I said to the group. "If there's anyone here who could offer a real challenge to even our combined might, it is him. Stay on your guard."

"Narud and his hybrid die this day," Kerrigan declared, and stepped ahead of the rest of us into the elevator.

There were varying utterances of agreement, and we followed.

...

The elevator played calming music during the long trip down through the enormous platform, but the savage beast was not soothed. Dehaka paced back and forth within the large lift.

"This place of metal and stone," he spoke up finally, exasperation in his voice. "Why?"

"You're not impressed?" Kerrigan asked, amused. "The primal zerg couldn't build something like this."

Dehaka turned to regard Kerrigan with beady yellow eyes. "I do not need a wall, I will evolve armor. I do not need a weapon, I will evolve claws."

"The toolmakers might create something stronger than your armor and claws," Kerrigan countered.

Was it my imagination, or did Dehaka just roll all his eyes? He turned away from Kerrigan, at least. "Their tools stay the same," he said dismissively. "I collect, I change."

I couldn't help but bark out a laugh at that. "Their tools do not stay the same," I contradicted. "Terran technology has changed radically over even just my own lifetime. Someone invents a better weapon, so someone else invents a better defense, so someone invents a better weapon, on and on. That gas we faced is a perfect example. It's a new Terran evolution, and unlike your claws, it could be everywhere on the platform at once. Don't underestimate the wielders of metal and stone, Dehaka."

The elevator chimed as it landed on the lab's floor.

Dehaka growled thoughtfully. "I will think on your words," he said, and then led the group out of the elevator into the lab floor.

A patrol of marines was waiting for us. Dehaka's tongue snapped out with lightning speed, grabbing and eating the first marine, power armor and all. The rest were instantly destroyed by a psionic crush from Kerrigan. We continued on, barely pausing to acknowledge their former presence.

"We're inside," Kerrigan telepathically informed our allies on the surface.

"Let's get another hive…" I started saying, but I was cut off by a sudden excruciating pain. I doubled over, clutching my head. Worse than any migraine I'd ever known, it felt like my brain was on fire, like someone was violently stuffing screams and pure hatred directly into my mind. I couldn't think, I couldn't feel, I couldn't sense, there was nothing but this neverending brutal agony that constituted my whole world. I had no idea whether my mouth was making sounds, but internally, all I could do was scream. A hand of darkness was crushing my soul, and there was no escaping it.


	41. Phantoms of the Void

After a moment that felt like an eternity, the pain finally subsided to a dull ache, and I slowly grew aware of my surroundings once again.

"What's happening?" asked Stukov's worried voice. As I looked around, I saw that Nova and Kerrigan had been affected as well, clutching at their heads and cowering. Stukov and Dehaka watched us unaffected, the first concerned and the second curious.

It was Kerrigan who identified the cause. "A hybrid has awoken and is attacking us psionically. Draining us…"

"Stay strong," Stukov urged in his thick Russian accent. "We must kill this hybrid, then, or we are all doomed."

"Yeah," Nova added, grimacing. "I don't know how long I can endure this."

"I can sense its location," Kerrigan said, eyes narrowed in determination. "Follow me."

And we did. I also sent a quick command to Zagara, ordering her to send reinforcements and build up a base in the lower labs here. Just moving was difficult work, the steady ache in my pounding head draining all my energy, but thankfully the five of us were still strong enough to take out the Moebius defenses on the way to the hybrid on our own.

Then, turning a corner, we saw it. A massive monster. An eldtritch abomination from another world. A dark faceless thing covered in a hard spiky carapace, with tendrils of psionic energy manifesting out of its shoulders and back, billowing behind it in the windless corridor. The hybrid looked less like a Zerg or a Protoss and more like the Angel of Death.

When it saw us, it screamed, both audibly and telepathically, a harsh miserable scream of rage and hatred. It ran for us, enormous clawed hands outstretched, crackling with psionic energy.

I was a little out of my league here. I stepped back, afraid.

Kerrigan, however, was undaunted. She rushed it, occupying its attention and meeting its psionic attacks with psionic energy of her own.

Nova dropped to a combat pose and began sniping the monster with her sharp spines. Meanwhile, Dehaka and Stukov joined the fray, attacking it with their claws and acid projectiles. I tried to avoid attention and keep everyone healed.

It was a long and brutal fight. We had to battle its psionic influence in our minds at the same time we battled it physically, which was a new and challenging experience. I had no doubt I would have succumbed to the despair and rage it was assaulting my mind with had I been alone. But Kerrigan was at her most determined, furiously throwing herself at the hybrid over and over, inspiring the rest of us to keep fighting. And in the end, one powerful monster can be taken down by five powerful monsters. A psionic crush from Kerrigan at the same time as a headshot from Nova proved too much for even the hybrid's superior carapace, and its head exploded.

The decapitated body did not collapse to the ground, however. Rather, it vaporized, evaporating into thin air.

 _That thing cannot be natural_ , I thought to myself.

With its death, the miserable aching pressure on my mind ceased, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was not to last, however.

Another psionic attack suddenly crippled me and the two other psionically sensitive members of the group. The same agonizing experience barraged our minds, forcing us to double over in pain. Thankfully, we were able to regain control sooner this time.

"Don't tell me," I groaned. "Another one awoke?"

"Yes," said an angry Kerrigan. "Bring it down! Now!" And she took off, running through the lab.

Again we followed and fought through the psionic aches and the Moebius defenses on our way to the next hybrid, this time accompanied by some reinforcements from Zagara. Again we fought and killed the hybrid after a long and grueling battle. Again the pain subsided, and again it flared up in full.

This time, a mocking voice accompanied the anguished screams. "You're not welcome here," it said menacingly.

"Narud," Kerrigan muttered angrily, recognizing the voice at the same time I did.

Izsha's voice broke through the noise. "Hybrid psionic signatures are appearing across the laboratory," she warned.

"Fulfil your purpose," Narud's voice continued, this time clearly not addressing us. "Kill everything."

"Ignore his prattling," Stukov encouraged us, helping Nova to her feet. "More of the lab has come under our control."

"Yes," I added, gritting my teeth. "He only has so many hybrid. Time to kill another."

We progressed slowly. Destroying Moebius defenses, resisting psionic assaults, battling hybrid, acquiring reinforcements, losing them, ignoring Narud's taunts, always pushing forward.

Once, when I was healing Dehaka after a particularly brutal fight with one of Narud's monstrosities, the primal pack leader growled and started muttering slowly. "The hybrid. Their essence is strong, but I cannot collect it."

I glanced at the place where the hybrid's body should have been, if it was natural. "Yeah," I commented. "Narud must really want to avoid leaving hybrid DNA around to study. Or consume."

"The creatures are born of the void," Stukov explained. "And so to the void they return."

"Ah, I knew they couldn't just be scientifically replicable amalgamations of DNA," I commented. "They use some of those special dark templar energies?"

"The void is more powerful and mysterious than the dark templar know," Stukov said. "Or so Narud claimed when he was monologuing outside my prison cell."

Kerrigan looked at Dehaka oddly. "Do you think Narud will bring you more essence if you follow him?" She asked in an intimidating tone of voice.

Dehaka paused before answering. "That one serves a master who will devour all essence. Change will stop. I will fight."

"Good," Kerrigan declared.

"A rather roundabout way of saying you know Amon wants to control or kill us," I muttered to myself.

The work continued. The last two hybrid awakened together, and it took all we had in us to fell them both. But once we did, we were finally free of those infernal psionic screams. We returned to the hive cluster victorious, but exhausted.

"Have the Swarm flood into the lower levels," a tired Kerrigan commanded Izsha. "Infest or kill everyone in your way. Narud is here somewhere, and I intend to find him."

"Rest now," I told the group. "As soon as the Swarm discovers him, we'll have to move again."

...

A short time later, Izsha informed us that some zergling scouts had stumbled upon and been killed by a patrol of Protoss zealots who shouted about guarding an inner sanctum. I gathered up the rest of our weary group and we made our way to that location.

"It's a safe bet that Narud will be hiding in this 'inner sanctum,'" I commented as we walked.

"Protoss…" Kerrigan muttered, shaking her head.

"Tal'Darim, in fact," Stukov added. "I remember seeing some during my time imprisoned. Narud must have held them in reserve. The final battle nears."

"But just how did Narud get the Tal'Darim to follow him?" I asked, eyebrows furrowed. "Wasn't the whole point of sending us and Valerian after the artifact pieces that Narud couldn't recover them from the Tal'Darim himself?"

"Perhaps his control over them is limited," Nova offered.

"They guard Xel'Naga ruins fanatically," Stukov said. "I believe there are Xel'Naga ruins in the inner sanctum. That could explain it."

I nodded. "Yes, maybe they're less serving Narud and more guarding his location. That would make sense."

A short time later, we arrived, and were immediately set upon by a patrol of Tal'Darim.

"Attack, my brothers!" they screamed. "Eliminate the abominations!" But they didn't have time to do more than scream before they were all impaled, sniped, consumed, melted, or psionically crushed.

"Looks like you were right, Stukov," I commented, looking around at the change of scenery. Instead of the sterile lab, we were now in an ancient ruin. Stone replaced steel and windows replaced artificial lighting. "Narud built this lab on top of a Xel'naga temple."

Suddenly, a voice screamed in my head. I recognized it as Narud's, but it was not the voice of a human: it was darker, more reverberating. "You know nothing of the Xel'naga!" it screamed.

A massive beam of darkness shot from across the ruin, rushing at us with violent energy. I barely had time to notice it and panic before it clashed with a beam of purple energy that, I realized after looking around, emanated from Kerrigan's outstretched hands.

"Narud is driving a null zone towards us," Stukov cried out, apparently recognizing the dark energy beam. "It will kill us on contact!"

Kerrigan groaned. "I won't be able to hold it for long."

Nova looked around, thinking about something. Then she walked over to Kerrigan, and a white energy jumped out from her fingertips, intertwining with Kerrigan's purple energy and driving Narud's null zone back further. "I'll help," she declared simply.

Stukov looked around. "These temples are amplifying his power," he said.

Now that he mentioned it, yeah, I noticed faint lines of glowing energy stretching from areas around the ruins to Narud's null zone.

Kerrigan sounded pained as she commanded, "Then go to the temples and destroy them!"

"On it!" I said, determined to free Kerrigan and Nova from the impending threat as soon as possible. "Zagara," I telepathically commanded. "Get some drones in here and set up a base, and send us all the reinforcements you can spare!" Zagara quickly acknowledged my orders, and I turned to my companions. "Stukov, Dehaka, follow me, let's go."

We left Kerrigan and Nova behind and made our way to one of the temples, following the faint line of energy.

"Just what is a null zone, Stukov?" I asked as we hurried. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"I don't know," he answered stiffly. "But I witnessed Narud use it on other prisoners. It vaporized them."

"Just how much more advanced are the Xel'Naga?" I murmured to myself, and then we ran into a squad of Tal'Darim guarding the temple.

Once they were destroyed, we turned to regard the shrine. "I can sense the device generating the null energy," Stukov declared. "I will channel psionic energy into the temple to destroy it, but it will take time. Guard me."

"Understood," I said, and a green energy leapt from Stukov's infested arm into the temple structure.

"He can manifest psionic energy too?" I muttered to myself. "Can I?" I stretched out my hand and concentrated. Was it my imagination, or did a spark of blue light emerge from my index finger?

I didn't have more time to think about it, though, as another squad of Tal'Darim rushed screaming into the temple. "You dare to defile the shrines of our gods!" shouted one of the more coherent zealots. "We shall strike you down!"

Dehaka and I fought them off. We wordlessly adopted a strategy where he took the brunt of their attacks and devoured their essence as often as he could, while I kept him healed and shot out acid from behind. It was a great strategy, at least until another hybrid showed up. It was intelligent enough to realize what was happening, and attacked me instead. I couldn't escape it, and it got several good strikes on me, breaking parts of my exoskeleton.

Two zerg versus one hybrid without Kerrigan was quite different from five zerg versus one hybrid with Kerrigan. The hybrid definitely had the upper hand in this fight. I could feel my body and soul cracking under the weight of its physical and psionic attacks. I don't know what would have happened if Zagara's reinforcements hadn't arrived then. Zerglings, hydralisks, and even a couple ultralisks rushed into the temple, damaging the hybrid and forcing its attention away from me. It was a long fight, and most of those reinforcements were killed, but eventually the hybrid fell and its body dissolved.

"The first temple has deactivated!" Stukov called out. Indeed, I saw that the faint lone stream of energy had disappeared.

"Excellent work," Kerrigan said telepathically, a twinge of relief coloring her voice. "I can feel Narud's strength slipping!"

Stukov turned to me. "Success, but only for a moment. We must disable the other temples."

I nodded. "Yes, but we'll need more forces before we risk facing another hybrid," I said, and I led our group to the hive cluster Zagara had morphed while we worked. I set to work overseeing the evolution of additional minions.

Narud noticed. "Tal'darim!" his psionic voice boomed in my head. "Destroy their hive! They cannot survive alone!"

A great number of Tal'Darim forces streamed into our base. Dealing with them was a challenge, but in the end, Stukov, Dehaka, myself, Zagara (who had arrived in person), and a few minions were able to defeat them. My new area of effect heal was crucial to keeping us alive, as was the distraction posed by the broodlings that erupted from enemies slain by my acid spit.

The battle waged in like manner for some time. My allies and I would destroy a temple, kill hybrid and Tal'Darim, retreat to the base for reinforcements, and deal with the counterattack. There were a few scares along the way (Dehaka nearly died to a hybrid when I didn't heal his wounds quickly enough), but ultimately we succeeded. After all, the Swarm's forces were unlimited, but Narud only had so many hybrid and Tal'Darim. If he'd sent them all at once, he might have overcome us, but like so many of the commanders I'd faced, he inexplicably preferred to throw them at us in manageable waves.

When the last temple fell, along with the last group of hybrid, Narud screamed his rage. "No! It cannot be!"

"Your temples are gone!" Kerrigan shouted triumphantly. I watched as the swirling purple and white energies pushed the dark null zone back into the distance, before finally exploding in an audible scream of psionic power.

"We've done it!" Stukov declared. "The null zone must have left Narud weakened, vulnerable."

"Even so," I replied. "We must not underestimate him. Gather our forces."

"What will you do?" Stukov inquired. Clearly, he was hoping for revenge.

"Kill him, of course," I answered. "He's too dangerous to live."


	42. Shifting Perspectives

At my request, only those of us who had undergone the primal infestation entered the distant inner chamber where Narud lay waiting. The fact that he hadn't used Amon's power to take control of us suggested that the infestation had succeeded and he no longer could. But I remembered the strength of the command signal that I experienced when I faced him on Tyrador VII. I did not want to chance the possibility that close proximity would allow Narud to take control of Stukov or Zagara.

So Kerrigan, Nova, Dehaka, and myself entered Narud's chamber alone. It looked empty.

"Face us, Narud!" Kerrigan called out, scowling. "It's over."

Narud's voice entered our consciousness. I couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, but he clearly felt nearby. "It is only beginning," he declared menacingly. "Amon whispered of this from the stars. He told you of his return... He told you of ruin, extinction. The end of all things."

"If Amon returns," I replied confidently, "We will stop him. He can't control us anymore."

Someone emerged from the shadows behind a pillar, walking calmly towards us. It was… no… no way. This could not be!

"Is that what you think?" said our old friend Jim Raynor.

"No..." Kerrigan whispered, a haunted look in her eyes.

"Sarah..." Raynor replied affectionately, holding his hands out towards Kerrigan.

"No!" Kerrigan shouted. "You're not him. You are not Jim!" She leapt at the man, claws outstretched. "You are nothing!" She screamed as she drove her claws and psionic energy towards Raynor.

Raynor smiled, and pivoted with far greater speed than any human was capable of. Kerrigan's attack met only empty air. Raynor's eyes glowed red, and he laughed Narud's laugh.

Suddenly, a spike appeared in Raynor's chest. Nova had sniped him. Raynor growled and twisted into impossible shapes, and then a large man with black dreadlocks stood in his place. "Nebber took you fur a traitor, girlie," he said in a thick mysterious accent. "You dun't wonnah…"

Several more spikes interrupted the shapeshifter's speech. Nova screamed as she shot spine after spine at him.

Narud screamed and wriggled and threw himself out of the path of harm, and then changed shape again. A beautiful female ghost stood before us. Young, hopeful. Her hair was a fiery red… no, it was a deep blonde. Actually, it seemed to shimmer and change color as it moved. The ghost was the spitting image of both Kerrigan and Nova.

"You can't kill me," the ghost said confidently. "I'm everything you lost. I'm everything you never had. I can get it back for you. I'm your only hope. Trust…"

This time, while Kerrigan and Nova stared at the ghost in rapt attention, it was Dehaka who interrupted the villain. "You change," Dehaka said gutturally as he swiped at the ghost with his vicious claws, knocking her to the ground. "But you do not evolve."

A massive bag of flesh erupted from the fallen ghost, expanding and coalescing into the giant form of… Zurvan. "You've tasted Tal'Darim essence," the enormous creature said ponderously. "You know… the Protoss essence is of the purest form. Help me kill them all and I will give you enough essence to evolve into a god!"

My turn, I thought to myself, rather enjoying the spectacle. I pooled a great deal of acid in my mouth and then spit it all at the monster. A wall of flesh melted before me, and Narud screamed and shrunk.

"How are you going to tempt me, Narud?" I called out fearlessly. "What could you possibly offer this former Magistrate?" I said it mockingly, but I was genuinely curious to see.

Before me stood my answer. It was… a faceless marine. No, the helmet… it wasn't faceless. It had their faces. The faces of my soldiers, all the ones who had died because of the choices I had made as their commander, the men and the women I had sentenced to death in my service in Beta Squadron, on Mar Sara, at New Gettysburg, all of them… they were all superimposed on that helmet. How?

My eyes widened, my mouth hung agape, and my limbs locked into place.

The alien manifestation of my guilt said nothing, but merely stared at me, and its stare was as paralyzing as the stare of Medusa.

Not for Kerrigan, though. Shaking her head to dismiss the effects of Narud's visions on her mind, she looked around and saw the rest of us captivated by his illusions. She screamed in primal fury, and I heard a telepathic call go out from her. Seconds later, a burrowing nydus worm erupted from the ground underneath Kerrigan, carrying her towards Narud and smashing its mouth into him.

The worm ate Narud. I blinked in surprise. Was that really the end?

The worm began to glow with a red light, and then it exploded into tiny chunks, as Narud fell to the ground, energy crackling around him. Now, he looked like he had when we originally met him. Now, he looked like Duran.

Kerrigan roared and leapt at him. He parried her attack with a red psi-blade that emerged from his arm, and swiped at her with another psi-blade emerging from his other arm. The two of them locked into combat, and then, before my eyes, Narud shapeshifted into Kerrigan, just as she looked now. With their rapid movements, I quickly lost track of who was who.

I was starting to recover. Part of me still didn't want to fight Narud, hoping for the impossible promise of my heart's desire made manifest: the chance of forgiveness from soldiers long gone. But another part of me recognized Narud for the liar he was. Still, that couldn't help Kerrigan now. If I joined the fray, I'd be as likely to hurt her as him.

Based on their expressions, Nova and Dehaka felt the same way. None of us could tell the shapeshifter apart from the real primal queen. The three of us were forced into the role of the spectator, watching uselessly from the sidelines as Kerrigan fought for our lives.

The battle raged for several minutes, the combatants evenly matched. I realized what had to happen before Kerrigan did. Every time she parried the fake Kerrigan's claws or blocked her psionic attack and responded with an attack of her own, Narud would just defend against that and attack again, over and over in a repeating cycle. The cycle needed to be broken. There was only way to do that without admitting defeat.

One of the Kerrigans stood still, doing nothing to block the bladed wings of the other Kerrigan as they pierced deep into her chest. Taking advantage of the other Kerrigan's obvious surprise, the wounded Kerrigan then thrust her own wingtips through her counterpart's body.

The counterpart screamed and shifted, and a dark and alien creature stood bleeding before us. It resembled a hybrid, but with an elongated skull and glowing red eyes and other such strange features. "You've already lost!" it shouted. "Amon lives. You will see him soon." I pounced, as did my allies. We sniped, clawed, and stabbed him, and the body dissolved like a hybrid's under the violence of our attacks.

We had won. But at what cost?

I rushed to Kerrigan. She was breathing, but unconscious, and bleeding badly. I could see some of her internal organs. I scooped her up in my arms and secreted my healing goo into her wounds as quickly as I could, even as I ran back towards the hive cluster as fast as I could with the heavy weight. "Call all nearby Abathurs and queens!" I called to my allies. "She needs immediate medical attention!" Even with their help, would Kerrigan be able to pull through?

…

Thankfully, but unsurprisingly given the Zerg's healing abilities and Kerrigan's own tenacity, Kerrigan made a full recovery within a few days. An Abathur had to perform an invasive surgery to regrow some of the damaged internal organs, but it all worked out. Once Kerrigan was back on her feet, I called a meeting at the head of the Leviathan so we could discuss our next steps.

"We all owe you a great deal of thanks for sacrificing yourself to kill Narud like that, Kerrigan," I began. "Now his threat is ended. The time has come to discuss our next move."

Kerrigan nodded. "What have you learned?" she asked. The calm and determined look on her face betrayed no sign of the traumatic ordeal she had just endured.

"I've scoured Skygeirr station from top to bottom," Nova declared. "There's no sign of the Xel'Naga artifact."

I growled. "That suggests Narud was telling the truth about Amon already having returned. He told me earlier the artifact was key to resurrecting his master. But if he had done that here, surely we would have seen some indication?" I turned to Stukov. "Did you overhear Narud saying anything about where he would have taken the artifact or where he was going to revive Amon?

Stukov shook his head. "No. However, I would wager it'll be another location guarded by Moebius or Tal'Darim forces." he answered. "Still, odd that it wasn't here. This was his most heavily defended stronghold."

"Hmm…" I muttered thoughtfully. "Nova, did you check the station's computer databases as well?"

"Of course," Nova scoffed, somewhat offended. "They carry no record of the artifact or of Amon that I could discern. However, there are records of supply shipments and the like that I could use to discover the locations of other strongholds. Perhaps one of them will have the answers."

"Yes, let's do that," I said, nodding. "Our primary goal right now is to learn more about this Amon and figure out how to stop him from destroying everything. Our secondary goals remain the infestation of all the Terrans and the discovery of either a way to infest Protoss or a way to ensure peace between our peoples. That's the big picture."

"For you, anyway," Kerrigan muttered.

Ignoring her comment, I continued, "We should consider invading Korhal again. As the seat of the Dominion, we need it destroyed if we are to take control of the sector and move freely without the threat of Terran attack. When the war with Amon begins, we won't want to be fighting on multiple fronts."

"Yeah, I am not going to agree to betray the Terrans," Nova replied angrily.

"An invasion on that scale would be costly," Kerrigan mused. "Especially if you wish to infest everyone rather than kill them. As much as I'd love to make Valerian pay for holding us captive, I'm not sure we can afford the distraction right now."

"Sir, Valerian's hold over the Dominion is weakening anyway," Warfield chimed in. "It is doubtful he will have the resources to truly impede us in a war against Amon. Or to assist us, for that matter."

"Those are good points," I admitted. "And now that I think about it, we still don't fully understand Amon's ability to control us zerg. Infesting more Terrans right now might just mean giving him more soldiers, if he turns out to be able to override our overmind control signal. Very well, we shall skip the invasion of Korhal. Anything else we should do while we have the chance?"

"Not all zerg under Swarm control," Abathur spoke up. "Ferals susceptible to Xel'Naga influence. Organized, could threaten Swarm."

I rubbed my chin absentmindedly. "Another good point. We should try to assimilate or exterminate as many of the feral colonies in the sector as we can before Amon gets the chance to take control of them. Assuming he hasn't already. And come to think of it, Narud claimed that Amon could control the Protoss as well. Did he just mean the Tal'Darim?" I looked at Stukov.

He raised his eyebrows. "I have no idea," he answered.

I frowned. "Have we heard anything from the Protoss on Shakuras since the Matriarch died? Besides our run-ins with Zeratul, I mean. What do we know about broader Protoss activity?"

Izsha cleared her throat. "No scouts have been able to get close enough to Shakuras to find out."

"Not good." I shook my head. "If Amon somehow suddenly takes control of all Protoss, we need to know. We'll have to send one of us to gather information. Any other objectives we should try to accomplish?"

There was silence for a moment as my allies considered. "Amon moves alone," Dehaka spoke up suddenly in his slow scratchy voice. "Not part of Xel'Naga pack. Other Xel'Naga are enemies. I know, I saw. Battle over Zerus in essence's memory. Many Xel'Naga killed. Some survived, possibly. Might track, find, ally our packs."

My eyes widened. "Now that is an interesting possibility. If we could find where the rest of the Xel'Naga went, and if they would fight Amon as you suggest, then we could have extremely useful allies. If anyone in the Koprulu sector knew where they disappeared to, it was Narud. Another thing to search for while we're invading his other strongholds."

"I suppose you want us to split up?" Stukov asked, no doubt remembering my strategy with recovering the artifacts.

I nodded. "That seems the most efficient use of what might turn out to be very little time. Especially since we're all so powerful now. Here's what I'm thinking. I'll go take control of as many feral zerg as possible, as I can probably do that the fastest. Kerrigan, you check out and destroy Narud's strongholds. Dehaka, take your pack and fight feral zerg or Moebius strongholds as you like; just concentrate on acquiring essence that will help you kill hybrid if more show up. Zagara, check in with our scattered broodmothers, help them prepare for war. We'll need resource stockpiles and a massive army. Stukov, check in with our infested. The infested on Mar Sara, Char, Moria, the infested we just created, make sure they're all safe. Arm any who are willing to help fight to protect their new lives, repair our infested Terran equipment, and so on. Warfield, keep an eye on Terran transmissions and oversee scouting operations: I want to know what Valerian and the rest of the Terran powers are up to. No surprises. And finally, Nova…" I paused a moment as I turned to look at her, contemplating. "You would clearly be the best suited to a reconnaissance mission on Shakuras, figuring out what the Protoss are doing. Can I trust you with that?"

Nova nodded, a fierceness in her eyes. "I'm with you, Magis. Don't worry."

"Alright," I turned away, satisfied. "Then are there any questions or objections to this plan?"

"Just one," Kerrigan replied, smirking. "Who gets the Leviathan?"

I blinked. "Well, I… I suppose you will have the most need of it."

"Excellent." Kerrigan beamed.

"Abathurs divide, assist all?" the Abathur representative asked.

"Correct," I answered. "Also, see if you can't evolve something that counters hybrid. Maybe something that nullifies psionic attacks?"

Abathur shook his head. "Psionic control rudimentary. Cannot currently evolve counter. Will consider options."

"Good enough," I replied. "Oh, and finally, Izsha," I added, turning towards the tentacle-woman, "You'll be responsible for coordinating our efforts and keeping us all appraised of one another's statuses."

"I understand," Izsha replied.

"Actually," I continued, "Since Kerrigan will be taking the Leviathan to some dangerous distant places, it might be best to have you moved to the more central location of our main hive on Char. Abathur, is that possible?"

Abathur nodded. "Can sever connection to Leviathan. Connect to hive. Safe if fast."

I glanced at Izsha and saw she was looking at Abathur in fear. "Prioritize painlessness too, Abathur," I responded. "That's an order. I want her moved safely and painlessly."

Izsha glanced at me gratefully. Abathur made a low growling sound that could have been his equivalent of a sigh. "I obey," he answered, with only the slightest hint of frustration in his voice.

"Alright," I said. "Then let's give ourselves a day or so to prepare. Nova, see if you can't get us all a list of probable locations for Narud's strongholds. And remember, everyone, if you encounter one, look for any information you can find on Amon and the location of the other Xel'naga. Good luck to us all."

My allies nodded or saluted, and we each left to prepare for our assigned tasks. With such intensive preparations, I felt pretty good about our chances. But I didn't really know anything about Amon. Was I underestimating him?


	43. Ghosts in the Fog

Over the next few months, I took control of millions of feral Zerg that had been left scattered across the Koprulu sector. Most dated back to the original death of the Overmind, but others dated back to the activation of the psi disruptor, the death of the second Overmind, the deaths of the other cerebrates, or to our deinfestation on Char. It was slow, boring, and lonely work, but I understood its necessity, and I was proud to expand the influence of the Swarm. Every time I finished assimilating a planet's ferals, I'd have my Abathurs create a broodmother to oversee our new force, though any particularly strong ferals I found I kept with me.

I also left chains of overlords at points in space to relay messages so that I could stay in contact with my allies. I still didn't understand everything about how Swarm communication worked. The Overmind control signal was clearly capable of reaching across the Koprulu sector, ensuring that Zerg aligned with the Swarm would remain aligned with the Swarm unless something obstructed it. But any specific telepathic commands or messages had a range of a couple dozen lightyears, and the more complex the command or message, the shorter the range. My hypothesis was that it cost some kind of energy to send information telepathically, and it cost more energy the more information and the greater the distance. In any case, I was able to get around this limitation by communicating with a nearer overlord who could relay the information to a farther overlord, over and over until it reached my intended target, however far away.

Still, this meant significant delays in our communication, and we were all pretty busy, so I didn't talk with my allies much. Izsha would send me reports every so often, when, for example, Dehaka or Kerrigan destroyed a new Moebius outpost, but otherwise we didn't talk much. So it surprised me when I heard Kerrigan's voice while working on converting a group of ferals on Tarsonis.

"Magis," she said. "I destroyed a Moebius station near Protoss Space."

That much was unsurprising. Why was Kerrigan messaging me personally?

"I ran into Zeratul there," Kerrigan continued, immediately answering my question. "He found evidence that Amon was reborn on the planet Atrias, at a massive Xel'Naga temple. I let him go. Shall I pursue him there?"

I thought for a moment. Certainly we needed to discover whether there was indeed any information on Amon at Atrias. But what was the best way to do that? My curiosity tempted me to go instead of or maybe alongside of Kerrigan, but I couldn't deny that I was most useful assuming direct control of ferals. So Kerrigan should go. Should she stop Zeratul? No… if past experience is any indication, where there's a massive Xel'Naga temple that's not on Shakuras or Aiur, there's Tal'Darim. Maybe we could make use of Zeratul to fight this battle for us.

"Yes." I answered telepathically. "Follow him, but don't let him know. Spy on him, but don't intervene unless you have to to save his life. I want to know what he knows, but let's let him take the brunt of any battles."

It took a few minutes for the message to wind its way through the relaying overlords, but Kerrigan eventually acknowledged my orders. I returned to work, wondering how the others were faring as I mindlessly pushed my will onto surrounding feral zerg.

A day or so later, Nova contacted me. "Magis," she whispered furtively, apparently fearful her psionic signal would be detected by the Protoss if she broadcast too loudly. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is the Protoss are not under the control of Amon. The bad news is that they have built up a massive armada, one to rival the fleet of Aiur before the Overmind's invasion, and they plan to use it to retake Aiur from the feral zerg there as soon as their preparations are complete. If Amon is waiting for the right time to make a move against the Protoss, that would be it. What are your orders?"

I stood still, shocked. Aiur had by far the highest concentration of feral zerg, numberless hordes left behind after the death of the first Overmind. I wasn't even planning on touching it any time soon in my campaign against the ferals. If the Protoss thought they could retake Aiur, they must have built up a mighty force indeed. One that could easily pose a significant threat to us if they changed their target.

"This means it is all the more important that you keep us apprised of Protoss activities," I messaged back quietly. "Stay on Shakuras, spy on the Protoss. When that fleet moves, we need to know immediately. But most importantly, stay safe. You can evacuate if you have to."

Several minutes passed before I received Nova's acknowledgement, and then I returned to work. As I worked, I reflected on how Nova differed from Kerrigan. They both received the same ghost training, and yet Kerrigan's approach was much more brash and aggressive. She revealed herself to the Protoss quickly, lying and manipulating them, when she visited Shakuras, and back when she first encountered them on Char she immediately messaged Tassadar with taunts and threats. Nova seemed to excel at keeping herself hidden, doing what was necessary when called for, like popping out and sniping enemies, but otherwise avoiding trouble. I wonder what explained that difference in their personalities. The Overmind's infestation affected Kerrigan, certainly, but even as a Terran I knew her as someone quite vocal about her opinions and eager to get into the thick of things. Maybe her superiors at the ghost academy liked her more than Nova's superiors liked Nova. Or maybe they just were just born with different personalities. At any rate, I was grateful to have Nova's quiet competence on my side.

Days turned into weeks on Tarsonis. Now that I actually had time to reflect, I made a point of visiting some of its more meaningful landmarks. The ghost academy was in ruins and thoroughly infested with ferals. When I stared at the creep-covered chunks of metal and stone broken and scattered across the whole location of the former facility, I couldn't believe that this was where Kerrigan and Nova had grown up. Seeing the traces of high thick walls and complicated electronics, the place must have seemed so imposing and oppressive to them. Before Mengsk signed its demolition order with zerg blood.

There wasn't anything more there. None of the electronics had any salvageable data, nor was there any sign of recent Terran incursion. I moved on.

I found the mansion where'd I'd grown up. Back before I got shipped off to the Confederate officer's academy. It too was in ruins, high-vaulted ceilings covered in art now collapsed ceilings covered in dust. Most rooms were unrecognizable. I wondered what had become of my family. It seemed safe to say they were dead, but then, for all I knew they had died long before the zerg invasion. It hadn't been a happy home life. The military had been a welcome escape. But still, it would have been nice to have a little more closure with them. It was a shame, but it was clear the people who reluctantly raised me were not to be a part of my life story beyond that one service. Perhaps if they had known infestation as I had, if we could have shared a hivemind and an eternity together… but that was not possible. I'd put my past behind me long ago, going so far as to refuse to use my real name, and now I moved on from the ruined mansion and put it behind me once more.

I came to New Gettysburg. I still wondered, sometimes, what would have happened if we had refused Mengsk's orders to come down here and protect the zerg. Raynor would still be alive. If we could have convinced Kerrigan to refuse Mengsk as well, the Protoss probably would have destroyed the Zerg. Tarsonis would have been damaged, but salvageable; billions of Terran lives would have been saved. But, Kerrigan and I would never have discovered the wonders of infestation. Infestation would save far more lives, given time. The day had been a tragic day for many, and it pained me to say it, but looking back, I truly do think that what happened was for the best. At least, assuming we succeed in defeating Amon and ascending all of humanity into immortal infested. If we did, the deaths of those nameless billions, as well as the deaths of friends like Raynor, would at least mean something. They'd have died for something besides paving Mengsk's monstrous path to power.

What if it had just been Kerrigan infested, and not me? If I'd stayed on the ship like in Mengsk's original plan? The plan to ascend humanity into immortal infested would never have been formed, of course. And Kerrigan would have been so alone. Without me or Jim… she'd have become truly monstrous. Although, I suppose we would have lIved on as Terrans. That could have made for an interesting series of conversations. I wonder if she would have even listened to us. I wonder if we would have been killed some other way shortly thereafter. It was hard to say what exactly would have happened, but I was certainly grateful that I had been infested too. Kerrigan needed me. The Swarm needed me. Humanity had never needed me.

I also visited the original location of the psi disruptor, before the UED disassembled it and reconstructed it on Braxis. All that remained to mark the location were scattered sheets of broken metal, easily replaced, and the windswept skeletons of nearby Zerg killed during the UED's advance. It was funny to think how much of our attention had been taken up with the UED back then. Now they were entirely irrelevant, save for the presence of Stukov at our side. Hopefully I would be able to look back on battles with Amon in the same way. Gazing upon the disruptor's ruins made me wonder if the weapon could be reconstructed. If our control signal over the Swarm was interrupted again, Amon might be able to take control over it instead, and that would be absolutely devastating. Would probably win him the upcoming war outright, in fact. Unless perhaps it would interfere with his own control signal as well. Then it might actually be quite useful to us, at least if we were able to modify it to only interfere with psionic signals in a particular area. But the Confederate scientists who knew how to build a psi disruptor were all long dead, so it should be a moot point. Still, made me wish I knew more about what to expect from this Amon.

Finally, I walked through the streets of Tarsonis' capital city. On a planet as well developed as Tarsonis had been, the capital city had truly been something to behold. Korhal had only had four years to build up since we had sacked it - and it had been nuked by the Confederates before that. But Tarsonis had grown from the moment Terrans first set foot in the Koprulu sector, long before my time, all the way until the Zerg struck, still a recent memory. The capital city had been absolutely beautiful, full of monuments and ancient tech, glamorous mansions hosting Confederate elites, and every entertainment option from shooting galleries to stage plays. I'd only visited the city a couple times, back in its heyday, but its busy streets and ancient architecture made a huge impression on me. Now those streets were empty. Now the architecture lay in crumbled pieces.

Such was the magnitude of the destruction. I was grateful for the opportunity to slow down and reflect on the effects of the events I had been involved in. When you're in the action non-stop, it may make for a more gripping story, but not a weighty one. I had counted the cost of summoning the Zerg to Tarsonis. I understood death and destruction would result. But that abstract recognition, too easily shoved aside while I concentrated on killing aliens, was nothing compared to this overwhelming sense of desolation and emptiness that I felt as I gazed over the devastated wasteland.

I found a cliff overlooking the city, and I just stared for a while. Stared at the city and the planet that once was.

…

…

…

Finally, I sensed nearby ferals approaching. I groaned and forced myself to stand up and get back to work. Such is life.


	44. Evil Awoken

I should mention one last location I visited on Tarsonis. I tracked a hive of ferals to an old Confederate high speed railway system out in the wilderness. While reclaiming them, I stumbled upon a bunch of old Confederate tech. There must have been a military base there, before the Zerg moved in. I found diamondbacks there, which amazed me because I had heard they'd never made it past the prototype stage. But these diamondbacks seemed combat-ready. Lucky for me, I guess. I remembered some of Beta squadron's military engineers chattering excitedly about diamondbacks, gushing over their unique ability to fire focused energy beams while moving. So, I ordered overlords to collect the vehicles. Perhaps Stukov could infest them and make them into something useful for the Swarm.

I also found a damaged train on the railway system, its metal walls providing shelter for feral zerg. When I asserted control over those zerg, I found two interesting bits of leftover tech. The first was a damaged adjutant, encrypted with Confederate codes. It recognized me, but, inconveniently, as a member of the Sons of Korhal rather than as a Confederate commander or magistrate, so I couldn't override the encryption. I might have been able to find a way to decrypt it regardless if I cared to, but I saw no reason to trouble myself. Best case scenario was it contained delicate Confederate secrets, but I doubted any of them would be helpful at this point. What were the odds it would tell me the location of a second psi disruptor, after all? Most likely, it just contained some useless recorded transmissions. Back when I was a Terran, I and most other officers I knew made a point of recording all our transmissions into an adjutant just in case we needed to prove to a superior what information we had, and there was no reason to think this adjutant held anything more significant. So, I ignored it.

The other bit of tech the train carried was an old "The Lost Viking" arcade game. I used to love that game when I was a kid. Apparently a recent Terran starship designer felt the same way, as they named and modeled the recently invented Terran Viking after the video game character. Nostalgia welled up in me. Investigating the arcade cabinet, it seemed in remarkably good condition. Probably it only needed electricity to function, and the Leviathan could generate bio-electricty. So I had an overlord collect the arcade machine as well.

And that was it. The extent of my interbellum adventures. Once I felt I'd gotten enough of Tarsonis' feral zerg under control, I ordered the converted ferals to begin an extermination campaign against the remaining ferals, and ordered nearby broodmothers to oversee the operation, while I made my way to the next infested planet.

Finally, Kerrigan contacted me again. "We might have a problem, Magis," her telepathic message informed me while I converted ferals on Agria, a formerly idyllic Terran planet invaded by spaceborne ferals a while back. "I followed Zeratul around on Atrias for a while, until he went alone into a small Xel'Naga temple. It exploded a short time later. Then I captured Zeratul and interrogated him. He told me the Tal'Darim are now in direct contact with Amon, and on his orders they are readying for war. Zeratul's also spouting some crazy nonsense about Tassadar telling him to look for a keystone, whatever that is. Now he's begging me to let him go and warn Artanis, who I guess has become leader of the Protoss. But I think I should just kill him now. Clearly, my previous attempt to grant him a fate worse than death failed. Ending his life here would make up for that. What do you think?"

I replied quickly, wanting Kerrigan to spend as little time as possible alone with her murderous temptations. "Let Zeratul go," I said telepathically. "He's the only Protoss who understands the threat Amon poses right now. Crazy or not, if there's a chance he can do something to stop Amon from gaining control of the Protoss fleet, we have to let him try. Was there nothing else? No clues as to Amon's nature, his powers, his weaknesses?"

It was quite some time before my message was relayed through the overlord chain to Kerrigan and her response relayed to me. "Very well," she said finally. "I've let him go. You're probably right. I'm not really as angry at him as I once was, anyway. He's changed. But no, there was no more information on Amon. But there was something else. I destroyed a Tal'Darim base while I was waiting bored for Zeratul to come out of that temple, and I came across an abandoned malfunctioning Tal'Darim probe. They left it lying on the ground outside their nexus like discarded trash. I'm guessing engineering and mechanical work isn't a highly respected part of their culture. Abathur asked to try to parse its weird language and interrogate it. He succeeded after a while, and found it had access to data on Tal'Darim troop movements, completely unencrypted! Most of the movements were to a planet in distant Protoss space. I'm guessing that's their homeworld. Also, they're moving a lot of units to a strange unexplored part of empty space. No planets are recorded there. Should I investigate?"

Now that was an intriguing message. Knowing the probable location of the Tal'Darim homeworld might be useful in the future. And if they had a secret space station, that would certainly be worth checking out. I thought a moment and then sent my reply. "Sounds like this little prologue to war might have been helpful after all, then. Yes, check out that location in empty space, try to figure out what it is. Stay safe. If it looks formidable, let's regroup before risking a fight with a bunch of Tal'Darim."

Several minutes passed. "Understood," came her eventual response.

I lost track of how much time passed after that. It was probably a couple weeks, more than enough time for Zeratul to warn Artanis. Finally, Nova contacted me. Far from the furtive whispers she had messaged me with before, now her voice was panicked and insistent. "Magis!" her message began. "The Protoss fleet has launched and now orbits Aiur! The invasion will take place within the day! I only just got free. I'm on my way back to you now. Be ready for Amon to make his move!"

I sent off a quick acknowledgement, and pulled back my forces, regrouping. A few minutes passed with no sign of change, so I risked asking for clarification.

"Nova, I'm prepared. Tell me what's going on. Were you captured? Are you safe?"

It was a few more minutes before I received a reply.

"I'm fine, Magis," she answered, her tone of voice both exasperated and anxious. "I just… had a close call. While investigating a lead. Last intel was that I'd have plenty of time to spare, but something must have accelerated Artanis' plans."

I frowned. "Keeping us apprised of Artanis' plans was your whole job. Where were you?"

Several minutes passed. More than I thought was necessary for her to receive the message.

"I'm not used to Zerg cloaking," Nova replied sheepishly. "It's not the "turn on and forget" system it was as a Terran. I have to think about it. I got distracted and a Templar in the town I'm hiding in sensed me. She requisitioned an observer from the robotics facility in the nearby city. They found me, interrogated me. Took me a while to get out. Had to kill a few of them. Then I just laid low for a while; didn't risk contacting you or entering another Protoss town until earlier today. Now can we get on with it? Artanis will have begun the invasion by now!"

Hmm, that wasn't the "investigating a lead" story she'd given me a moment ago. But I could understand being reluctant to share her failure with me. "Very well," I answered. "But in the future, inform me of such matters immediately. If word gets around that a Terran or Zerg spy killed Protoss on Shakuras, that could-"

I was interrupted by a bellowing roar. I looked out across the hive cluster in the direction of the sound and spotted in the distance a feral ultralisk. Surrounded by a bunch of other feral zerg. All charging right for my base at breakneck speed.

"Okay, well, that's frightening," I said aloud. "They're coming," I quickly messaged Nova. "Got to go."

The massive herd of ferals rushed roaring and chittering into my base. My forces tried to defend, but it quickly became clear that these ferals were exhibiting far more strategy and intentionality then they ever had before. They would defend one another, queens would heal damaged units, they would focus their attacks to fell my units quickly. And I couldn't take control of them. These were not true ferals. Something was directing them. Amon.

The attackers quickly overwhelmed us. Instead of sending his forces in manageable waves like kind old General Warfield, Amon had ordered every nearby feral zerg to group up and lay waste to my base at once. There was no sense fighting a hopeless battle. I gave the order, and my forces loaded up in overlords and evacuated the planet.

Once I was safely in space, I began messaging my allies, asking everyone to regroup on Char. The replies I got were not encouraging.

"Pack damaged. Retreating now," Dehaka answered.

"Moebius is assaulting planets all over the Dominion!" Warfield cried out. "There's even a coup on Korhal itself! They have hybrid! It's taking all Valerian has to keep them at bay!"

"Ferals are destroying our broods!" Zagara spoke up. "Many of our colonies are in danger!"

"Some of our infested are hearing voices," Stukov reported. "It seems Amon seeks to overpower your control signal. I'm requiring all infested to stay near our hives and overlords for the time being."

"I can't tell exactly what's going on with the Protoss," Nova messaged. "But a whole lot of their psionic signals are going dark. It's safe to say their armada is in trouble."

"Our scouts in systems controlled by feral zerg or Tal'Darim are dying," Iszha replied. "I can no longer monitor their activities."

Most worrisome of all, Kerrigan did not reply at all.


	45. Sky Shield

Soon we had all assembled on Char, save Kerrigan. Since she had taken the Leviathan, we met just outside one of our central hives instead. The burning hellscape of Char provided a fitting backdrop to our conversation.

"We need to prioritize!" I shouted over the cacophony of voices arguing about where to direct our forces. "We can't defend every colony. So here's what we'll do. We'll evacuate Moria and Mar Sara and every other infested planet. Bring them to Char. Zagara, Stukov. You two oversee this. Take what forces you need to see it done. You don't need to destroy the enemy, just help everyone escape them. Okay?"

Zagara scowled, as much as a creature with mandibles instead of a proper mouth can scowl, but answered, "As you command."

Stukov nodded. "It will be done. Where will you take the bulk of our forces?"

"It seems to me that there are two options," I said, glancing at Warfield and Nova. "Korhal and Shakuras. One the seat of Terran power, the other the seat of Protoss power. The bulk of Amon's forces will be there, and possibly Amon himself. We don't know much about what's going on with the Protoss. Warfield, how is Valerian holding up?"

"Not well, sir," came Warfield's military response. "Intercepted transmissions indicate Moebius Corps. is overrunning Sky Shield, the orbital defense platform. Once they take it, there will be nothing to stop them from invading Augustgrad. The Dominion will fall if they do not receive aid, and countless Terrans will die."

I sighed. "Well, we can't have that. They deserve the opportunity to experience the glories of infestation. Maybe if we help them out, they'll stop seeing us as monsters and be more willing to undergo infestation voluntarily. In any case, their lives matter, even if the well-being of the Dominion does not. We should lend our aid."

I looked around. Nova and Warfield nodded, but Dehaka stared at me with a curious expression.

"What is it, Dehaka?" I asked.

Dehaka sniffed. "Smells like trap," he said in his characteristic slow and rough manner. "Why has Char not been attacked? Seat of Zerg power. Waiting for our pack to abandon its territory?"

I paused. "That's possible. I would imagine Amon wouldn't want to spread his forces too thin. He's probably aware that we've been preparing for him here, and decided to hit softer targets first, to turn to us only after they've been destroyed. But if he sees the opportunity, he might send an attack here, yeah. So, let's do this: Dehaka, you stay here on Char, build up your forces, collect essence, keep an eye out, help safeguard the refugees Zagara and Stukov will be bringing back. Defend Char. Warfield, Nova, let's take the bulk of our brood and go pay Valerian a visit. Also, Iszha, keep an eye out for any information concerning the Protoss or Kerrigan. Send scouts to their last known locations."

I received a chorus of acknowledgments in response.

"Good," I continued. "One last thing. Abathur, Stukov, Dehaka. Have you evolved anything new I should know about before we begin?"

"Multiple Leviathans created from excess resources," the Abathur with us spoke up. "Ravager: evolved from roaches. Long range acid attacks. Effective against hybrid. Explosive mines developed, deployable by local Abathurs. Moderately effective in colony defense."

"I have an infested army ready to deploy," Stukov answered. "There are those of us willing to fight to safeguard our new lives. Besides the Apocalisk and the Alexander, I now have an army of infested banshees, liberators, diamondbacks, and other Terran equipment at my disposal."

"New mutations," Dehaka rumbled. "I have collected much essence. Can now consume hybrid, destroy immediately. Can breath waves of fire. Armor increased. Can see cloaked units. I have changed, I have evolved."

I raised my eyebrows at that last list. It all sounded useful, but consuming a hybrid whole? So soon after we had so struggled to fight a single hybrid on Skygeirr? That would be astonishingly useful. Dehaka didn't even look that different! A little bigger, maybe. A more heavily armored carapace on his head, guarding his formerly exposed eyes. Such little changes apparently belied the emergence of a primal powerhouse. His choice to attain essence by following us was clearly working out for him. Part of me worried what would happen if Dehaka ever became dissatisfied and turned that essence against us instead.

"Excellent." I answered. "See to it that you deploy these new weapons against the enemy. The most immediately important development is the additional Leviathans. Abathur, prepare them for launch. I want our forces loaded and ready to warp within the hour. We have no time to waste. The strategizing is finished, now let's execute the plan."

…

Our forces mobilized quickly, and we warped to Korhal far faster than any human army could have. Even so, when we arrived in orbit around Korhal, it looked as though we might have been too late. Parts of the planet were on fire, fires large enough to be seen from space. SkyShield station looked like a wreck, pockmarked with explosions and surrounded by space debris. Valerian was definitely losing this fight. The question was whether he had lost it.

"Receiving Terran transmission," said Izsha, now implanted in my new Leviathan. Whatever had happened to Kerrigan, clearly moving Izsha had been the right choice. It would have taken too long to morph a replacement. But I figured it was worth the risk to transfer her from Char to my Leviathan now.

"Zerg spacecraft," said a gruff older woman in the transmission Iszha put through. "Why are you here? If you've come to kick us while we're down, Valerian and the Dominion will resist you! Didn't you do enough against the Dominion when you killed Arcturus? Leave us be!"

I recognized that woman. Colonel Carolina Davis. She served under me in the Sons of Korhal. Her military strategy had always been... questionable. High risk, low reward, generally. If she was the Dominion's top military leader now that Duke was dead and Warfield infested, that spoke volumes about how weak the Dominion was.

"We have not come to fight you," I answered calmly. "We have come to aid you. We wish to save Terran lives and crush Amon's army before they can turn their attention to us. Where should we deploy our forces?"

That clearly surprised her. Still, it only took her a moment to recover. "Hmm. Well, well, well, the traitorous commander, come to help." She scowled. "I suppose beggars can't be choosers. If you're serious, the terrorists calling themselves the Moebius Corps. have overrun Sky Shield and destroyed its atmospheric stabilizers. It's falling fast. If it hits the ground, it will obliterate Augustgrad. If you can retake the platform, we…. WHAT?!"

I saw it at the same moment Davis did, and even felt it psionically, such was its power. A massive Protoss ship. MASSIVE. Easily many times bigger than a carrier, this thing could carry an entire fleet inside it. Hell, it could probably fit the entire Protoss race inside it! I thought Leviathans were huge, but this dwarfed even those.

After a moment of consideration, I sent a transmission requesting to add the Protoss to the conference call. "Protoss vessel, what are you doing here?" I asked as an opening question.

Artanis appeared on-screen. Far from the lanky young warrior he had been when Kerrigan helped him on Shakuras or when we fought him on Char, now he was confident and garbed in ceremonial armor that made him quite imposing to behold. In fact, he looked downright regal. "The last Cerebrate," he addressed me, eyes narrowed. "We have come to retrieve an artifact. The Keystone. Why are you here?"

"To stop Amon," I answered. "And I guess that means Zeratul's warning got to you. Where is he now?"

Artanis' face fell. Well, his eyes did. Without a mouth, his range of facial expressions was limited. "The Dark Prelate… fell on Aiur. His last hope was that I would continue his quest and find a way to stop Amon."

I nodded. "Considering the number of scraps he's been in, I'm amazed he lasted this long. No matter. It seems we are on the same side now, Artanis."

Artanis' eyes twitched. "Yes… fate does have a cruel sense of humor."

"If you both have truly come to help," Davis interrupted, smiling the fakest smile I've ever seen. "We need you to retake Sky Shield NOW."

Artanis shook his head. "Your primitive projectiles with be of no use in the battles to come. Tassadar, my mentor, may have respected you enough to spare you the full might of the Khalai, drawing the ire of the Conclave in the process, but I have known nothing but trouble and mediocrity from your kind. You are more pests than warriors. Perhaps in another timeline things would be different. For now, the Daelaam proceed to the Keystone." Artanis left the conference call, and his massive ship settled into orbit a good distance away from Sky Shield and Augustgrad. Looking at my map, I identified the location they hovered over as Bennet Port, a city also currently subject to Moebius Corps. incursion.

"Well," I answered quickly, smiling at Davis. "The Zerg are willing to offer their assistance. The people of Augustgrad shall not die this day."

Davis sighed, resigning herself to her humiliating fate. "Very well. Thank you. We have ten minutes at the current rate of descent. Clear the path to an atmospheric stabilizer, and I'll send some SCVs to repair it. That should buy us some time. Once we control all the stabilizers again, the danger will have passed."

I nodded. "Understood. Don't worry." I ended the transmission, and began ordering our forces to the platform.

I saw no reason to bother with morphing a hive cluster on the platform. We had millions of zerg units waiting in the Leviathans. I ordered only some of them to deploy, just enough to obviously overwhelm the platform. Droppods rained down across Sky Shield, spilling out legions of zerglings, roaches, banelings, hydralisks, ultralisks, and more, immediately tearing apart everything in sight. Swarms of mutalisks, scourge, guardians, brood lords, devourers and corrupters launched from the Leviathans and washed over the platform, cleansing it of anything that moved. I even ordered the Leviathans themselves to enter the fight, engaging Moebius' stronger units with their vicious tentacle strikes.

I expected Moebius would have some sort of surprise to deal with, like the gas on Skygeirr. I wasn't wrong, but it was a very strange surprise indeed: they had set up several electromagnetic pulse disruptors on the platform that slowly damaged shields within range. Shields. Not even mechanical units. Just shields. Only the Protoss used shields. They must have been expecting to fight the Protoss, which made me wonder how Amon could possibly have known the Protoss would show up at Korhal and yet not have known that the Protoss would ignore Sky Shield. Odd. My unshielded zerg swiftly destroyed the devices and moved on.

It took about two minutes from when I had given the order to deploy until I could sense no living things on the platform not under Zerg control.

I opened a channel to Davis. "The platform is yours. Repair its stabilizers at your leisure."

The stunned look on her face was extremely gratifying. "I… right. On it. If you could pull back your swarm?"

I nodded, sent the command, and watched as the aerial units drifted back to the Leviathan and overlords picked up the units on the ground. Soon, SCVs arrived in dropships at the burning platform and set to work repairing the stabilizers. I watched as the platform's descent slowed, stopped, and finally began to rise again. Augustgrad was saved.

"Anything else we could help you with, Colonel Davis?" I asked.

"It's General Davis now," the old woman bristled at the reminder of her former position under me. "And I think it would be best if you did not land your swarm in Augustgrad. We don't want to cause a panic, and the riots there are close to being under control anyway. However, we have received no reports from Bennet Port since the Protoss deployed forces there. Perhaps you could investigate?"

I nodded. "I want to have a chat with Artanis about this Keystone anyway. Once we finish there, then, we will leave the system. I am sure your media will want to know what happened here. Be sure you tell them the truth; do not cover up our involvement. Tell them, too, that if any human is dissatisfied with their lot in life and would prefer the security, community, and downright immortality that comes with being a part of the Swarm, the doors of our worlds are open to any who can brook passage to them. My broods are under strict orders to welcome any unarmed Terran vessels they encounter and infest their inhabitants to be Zerg like us. It is not the fearsome thing you have been told, it is wonderful, like being reborn a god. Many of your fellow Terrans have already accepted this offer and even now dwell in new infested civilizations on planets like Char. Come join us." I paused. "Understand, Davis? If this message is not relayed on U.N.N., I will know, and I will not be happy. I don't think you can afford to anger yet another alien race."

Davis frowned. "I will speak to Valerian about it."

I nodded and ended the transmission.

"Let's go see what the Protoss are up to," I thought as I mentally steered the Leviathan towards Bennet Port.


	46. Brothers in Arms

As I approached Bennett Port, I spotted distant explosions all across the city. Before my eyes a hail of orbital laser-fire shot out from the enormous Protoss vessel in orbit, crashing into the ground in spectacular fashion and destroying everything it contacted.

I hesitated, wondering how close to get to the action, and it was a good thing I did. A wave of energy erupted from a point near the center of the port, spreading outward far into the atmosphere, finally dissipating before it reached my Leviathan. Some of my other units weren't so lucky. I felt the overlords and mutalisks that were caught in the blast blink out of existence as they were vaporized by the energy nova. There was no mistaking it. The artifact we had fought for on Char was here. What's more, this time it didn't stop with Zerg. The weak psionic signals of all of the thousands of Terrans in the city suddenly blinked out. I would never have been able to detect any one of their signals, but I could feel their sudden collective absence, as though a swarm of quietly chirping crickets suddenly silenced. My immediate thought was that they too had been killed, obliterated in an instant by the energy nova, and I was horrified.

"Thousands of voices just cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced," I whispered to myself, clenching my fists so hard my knuckles turned white. "Caught in the crossfire between the uncaring Protoss and the villainous Amon. This cannot go unanswered."

Nove spoke up, "They're not dead." I glanced at her, and she was shaking her head and wearing a calm, determined face. "Their signals are still there, barely sensible. The blast knocked them all unconscious."

I blinked, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Good." I turned to the nearby Abathur with furrowed eyebrows. "How could the artifact do that?"

Abathur folded his spindly hands together in thought. "Artifact modified," he declared. "Much effort expended. Now interrupts Terran nervous system. Method unknown. Enemy formidable."

Abathur's comment made me realize something. "Did it even touch the Protoss at all?" I asked.

Abathur shook his bulbous head. "Negative. Protoss biomass unaffected. Cells complex. For energy nova to affect, much modification required. Difficult. Method unknown."

"Sounds like Moebius thought they'd be fighting Terrans, not Protoss," I muttered to myself. Then I paused. "Wait, they're Terran. Shouldn't that blast have stunned their forces too?"

Nova nodded. "It did. Artanis is taking advantage of that right now to destroy their fortifications while they can't fight back."

I furrowed my brow, confused. "With Valerian being so concerned with Augustgrad and Sky Shield, the beleaguered Terran defenders of Bennet Port are all but destroyed already. Why would they activate the energy nova, then?"

"To warn us to stay away?" Izsha suggested. "If we engage, we'll be destroyed."

I nodded. "That must be it. Though I wasn't planning on engaging anyway. Too many of our forces would get caught in the crossfire. I guess there's nothing left to do but wait. Nova, can you sense Artanis' progress?"

Nova nodded. "I'll keep you updated."

…

About twenty minutes later, Bennet Port finally fell silent, Moebius Corps. and their hybrid left scattered and broken by the onslaught of Artanis' forces. Given the massive Protoss spaceship raining blue fire and zealous reinforcements across the battleground, it was only a matter of time before Moebius fell. When it went silent, I ordered Izsha to hail Artanis.

"Artanis," I greeted him simply when he appeared on screen. "You have your keystone now, I presume."

Artanis' eyes were sharp, determined. "Indeed. Even now, my phase-smith works to unlock its secrets. For now, we have another destination."

I raised my eyebrows. "What's that? Are you fighting Amon elsewhere? We wish to stop him too. Let us assist you."

Artanis regarded me with suspicion. "The Zerg have caused nothing but trouble and grief for the Firstborn ever since your kind first arrived in this sector. Amon's threat is great, but why would I ever trust you?"

"Because now we have a common enemy." I answered matter-of-factly. "One who-"

Artanis interrupted. "As I recall, we had a common enemy in the Zerg Cerebrates on Shakuras, not long ago. That didn't stop you from corrupting our Matriarch, killing Aldaris, and ruining Zeratul! I told you once before: The Protoss will never forget your treachery." He made as if to terminate the transmission.

"Wait!" I shouted. When Artanis hesitated, I continued. "I understand your concerns," I replied, trying to look contrite. "I would feel the same in your position. But please believe me, we... had different aspirations back then. We were younger, more foolish. Forgive us. We seek a chance to redeem ourselves. We're not asking you to put yourselves at risk for us. Just to coordinate with us. Share your information about Amon, and we'll share ours. Let's beat him together, and then we can go back to hating one another after his threat has passed if we must."

Artanis narrowed his eyes and peered into mine. I met his gaze unwaveringly. Finally, Artanis sighed. "Very well. I am not so proud as the late Conclave, to turn down aid and pursue vengeance while a homeworld burns. You cannot do much worse than what is already being done, anyway. The Warp Gate between Aiur and Shakuras has been reactivated, and Amon's swarm is pouring through. Shakuras is in grave danger, and now that we have the keystone, we must speed to save it. Will you join us?"

I nodded. "We will help safeguard your people."

Artanis dipped his long head and terminated the transmission.

I took in a deep breath, and then turned around and looked at the Zerg leaders still with me. Warfield looked calm and military as always, but Nova, Abathur, and Izsha stared at me inquisitively,

"Why do you assist these Protoss?" Izsha inquired. "Are they no longer enemies?"

I shook my head. "Protoss cannot be infested, to our knowledge. And infestation wouldn't help them even if it was possible, since they're practically immortal already, and they have hivemind-like telepathic communication. So our only goal is to ensure they do not threaten our infested societies. From what I've gathered, the former Protoss leadership would never have tolerated them, but Artanis' new regime... seems like it might be possible for the infested and the Protoss to coexist. If we can ensure that, say, by saving their home world, we might be able to build a better future for both our civilizations."

"Requesting clarification," Abathur interjected. "Original directive abandoned? Protoss assimilation into Swarm, no longer goal?"

I nodded. "Assimilating them would require killing them all and using their DNA to create a new Zerg species. I see no reason to do that. I think the Overmind only wanted to because he was under Amon's subtle control. And, frankly, whether tank-grown or Swarm-spawned, I've seen enough hybrid to last me an immortal's lifetime."

Nova had a curious expression on her face. "I wonder what Kerrigan would have to say about this," she remarked.

I smiled, then frowned. "I would say it's a good thing she's not here, but I'm worried about her. Izsha, what became of the scouts sent to her last known location?"

Izsha bowed her head. "Like Kerrigan's Leviathan, their signals ceased the moment they exited warp travel. Either something there is disrupting psionic transmissions and preventing them from warping away… or something there is disintegrating them instantly."

I took a deep breath, steadying myself after that shocking news. "Well, shit," I said finally. I'd been brought up as a proper Confederate gentleman; I did not swear. It had been a point of contention between myself and the backwater colonists of Mar Sara, including Jim Raynor. So when I sweared here… I meant it. "If Kerrigan warped into a black hole… shit."

"But she went there because the Tal'Darim were warping tons of forces there, right?" Nova asked, brow furrowed. "They wouldn't just throw those fleets and armies away, would they?"

"I wouldn't put it past them," I muttered sadly. "Remember Typhon XI? They effectively threw their whole army into an exploding sun to try to stop me from reaching the Xel'Naga artifact."

"Well, they're fanatics, sure, but they're not suicidal," Nova protested. "How would throwing an army into a black hole help them safeguard a Xel'Naga relic?"

"Not sure," I answered quietly. "Unless… they could have intended Kerrigan to find that probe. Maybe they never sent forces there. The probe's data could have been tampered with."

Nova paused. "That's… a possibility, but one that would require far more strategic sense than I've sensed from any Tal'Darim so far."

I nodded. "There's a lot of questions to be asked about this situation, but though it pains me, there's nothing we can do about it now. We can't risk sending more forces after her. Keep an eye out for more information, but for now, we have a planet to save."

…

Unfortunately, when our Leviathan warped into orbit over Shakuras, we quickly discovered that Artanis had been underselling the threat, or had not been fully informed of it. There weren't merely a lot of Zerg. There were continents full of zerg. Nearly all of Shakuras was already overrun by Amon's Swarm. The sprawling capital city of Talemetros was already three-fourths destroyed.

I hailed Artanis, joining a telepathic conference call in progress with a female dark templar I did not recognize.

She felt my presence.

"The Zerg have infiltrated our communications," she shouted, eyes wide in horror. She glanced into the distance. "And they send spacefaring ships from afar? Truly-"

"Hold, Vorazun," Artanis interrupted. "These Zerg are not under Amon's control. They fear him, and wish to aid in our fight against him. They will help evacuate the Nerazim. Transmit all known locations of Protoss survivors. We will aid Talemetros, while they rescue any other pockets of resistance."

Vorazun seemed like a no-nonsense sort of Protoss, so the expression of shock on her face was delicious. "I, uh… very well, Hierarch. They cannot do worse than Amon is already doing. It is unlikely survivors remain outside of Talemetros, but the Nerazim are adept at hiding in the shadows. I will broadcast the last known coordinates of Protoss psionic signals across Shakuras."

"Thank you," I replied simply, before I felt a wealth of untranslatable information broadcast psionically. "Did you receive the data, Izsha?" I called.

I received a telepathic affirmative, so I turned my attention back to the conference call. "The Swarm will do what it can to assist," I said, before ending the call.

I immediately set up strike teams, overlords full of our more highly evolved units, hunter killers and Torrasques, and instructed Izsha to launch them at the more promising locations, escorted by mutalisks and brood lords. When the overlords reached the ground, they unloaded their violent cargo, which quickly tore through Amon's meager defenders. It was clear most of Amon's Zerg had turned their attention to Talemetros.

I had the Overlords relay a telepathic signal communicating friendliness and a chance for evacuation. I hoped the sight of Zerg fighting Zerg would be enough to convince any hiding Dark Templar of our intentions. Even so, few took us up on our offer. Whether because they didn't trust us, or because there were few left alive to take the gamble, I wasn't sure, but I suspected the latter. The sights my Zerg showed me when I looked through their eyes were not pretty. Nerazim bodies littered the streets, many with shattered warp blades in hand, others clearly too young or infirm to resist. Any Protoss structures still standing were unpowered, and the majority of the ground was covered with creep and patrolled by Amon's overseers, who would quickly spot any hiding Nerazim.

Even so, scattered survivors, hesitant but desperate, did heed our call. They had hidden in caves, in the wilderness, or even, in a few cases, underwater (it seemed without mouths or noses, Protoss had no need to breath).

We ferried them to the Spear of Adun. It had cost the lives of many powerful Zerg minions to see them there, but actually less lives than I had anticipated, since Amon's attention was focused on Talemetros.

I ordered my own forces to evacuate, and then hailed Artanis again. "I believe we've rescued all the Nerazim we can. How fares the battle for Talemetros?"

"The Warp Conduits have been cleared and the surviving Nerazim have been evacuated," Artanis replied, a grim expression on his face. "But… Shakuras has been overrun. We've lost another homeworld."

Vorazun shook her head sadly. "Amon's zerg pour through the warpgate as a tide of flesh and blade. This world is lost. With such infestation... Shakuras must be destroyed."

Artanis's eyes widened. "Destroy Shakuras? I will not permit this!"

Vorazun's face turned angry. "Permit?! Shakuras was my people's home long before we offered yours sanctuary upon it! I will not let this world be a den to Amon's forces. Worlds may fall to ash. What matters is that we endure."

Artanis turned away, crestfallen. "To lose Shakuras and Aiur..."

Vorazun's voice grew soft. "We are vagabond people, Artanis. Our true home has always been Aiur. Let us reclaim it together."

Artanis closed his eyes briefly, centering himself. "It is fitting that the daughter of Raszagal decided the fate of the world she helped to forge. I assume you have a plan?"

My mouth fell open in surprise, before I composed myself and narrowed my eyes, thinking. _The daughter of Raszagal? Does she know of our part in her mother's death? I'll have to tread carefully with her._

Vorazun nodded. "The Xel'Naga Temple's phase prism can be overloaded... forcing a spike of energy into the planet's core. Enough of a charge, and the planet will shatter! Amon will not possess my world!"

Artanis seemed encouraged. "We should lure as many of Amon's hybrid and zerg through the gateway as we can. Only once enough are through to wound him, will we overload the temple and flee."

"You mean to bleed him," Vorazun replied. "Bold. But we can't risk the forces it would require to do such a thing."

I cleared my throat. "You need not risk any of your forces. This plan is a good one. The Swarm would be happy to see Amon's brood destroyed."

Vorazun scowled but said nothing. At a guess, she did know of our part in her mother's death, but was wise and desperate enough to begrudgingly give us a chance to help regardless.

Artanis regarded me with a curious expression. Then he brightened and nodded. "The Protoss will not stand idly by while Zerg fight our battles, but neither are we so foolish as to turn away much-needed assistance. There is enough room at the base of the temple for the both of us. Let us cooperate."


	47. Last Stand

The base of the Xel'Naga temple was one of the most resource-rich locations on Shakuras. I had no idea whether that fact had influenced the Xel'Naga decision to construct their structure there, or whether the ancient temple's mysterious power had somehow helped mineral crystals to grow and vespane gas to flow. Either way, the Protoss hadn't touched those resources much, not even when they fought at the temple during the Brood War, so it was conveniently the best location for two massive armies to hold out during an unending zerg onslaught.

As soon as our combined forces cleared the base of the temple of Amon's zerg, we set about transforming those abundant resources into defenses. Spine crawlers, spore crawlers, photon cannons, these new Dark Templar cannon towers called Khaydarin Monoliths, and I even broke out the old Lurker strain. The base of the temple soon grew littered with defensive fortifications. Artanis' forces took the North and West sections of the temple, while my forces took the East and South.

By the time Artanis' forces began calibrating the temple for activation, Amon figured out where we were and what we were up to. My scouts reported that zerg all over the planet were abandoning their locations, grouping up and rushing for the temple. We were going to be in for quite the fight.

"How long will we have to defend this place, Artanis?" I inquired after informing him of my scouts' report.

"Without the Uraj and the Khalis, it will take time," Artanis answered. "I am not sure how long, but we should stay as long as we can. Zerg continuously pour through the warpgate in ever greater numbers; the longer we hold, the more we will slay."

"Wait," I replied, furrowing my brow. "What happened to the Uraj and the Khalis?"

"They were consumed in the previous activation of the temple," he replied. "We are using different khaydarin crystals to help generate the necessary energies, but this alternative will both take longer and destroy all life, not just zerg."

I nodded. "I see. Do what you have to then. The Swarm will buy you all the time you need."

"There is another problem," Vorazun interjected. "The temple's energies are regulated by three Zenith stones. To overload the temple, they must be destroyed."

I glanced at the map displayed by one the Leviathan's organs, noting the giant floating diamond-shaped structures in the distance. "Those are quite a ways away," I said, frowning. I looked at the paths between the temple and the stones. "A lot of Amon's zerg stand between our forces and them. Fighting through them would be costly. Is there a way to bypass them? I could suicide-bomb some of my forces from orbit if need be, but is there an alternative?"

Vorazun grimaced. "My dark templar can sneak through the enemy and destroy the stones. But with their overseers, that could prove costly."

I smiled. "Now overseers I can take care of. Get your dark templar in position, Vorazun. The Swarm will remove their detection."

Vorazun nodded, and a short time later, I opened the floodgates of my Leviathan, shooting out hundreds of Scourge onto the temple. There were so many, they blot out Shakuras' already dim sun. Under cover of near darkness, the Scourge rushed out along the paths to the Zenith stones, destroying every flying zerg on the way, and even a few strange flying hybrid we had never seen before. Many scourge died to hydralisks and other enemies before they could deliver their explosive payloads, but scourge were inexpensive and mass-produced, and the cost was worth it. When all nearby overseers were destroyed, I recalled the surviving Scourge, and the sun brightened as the Swarm returned to the Leviathan.

I ordered the queens in the Leviathan to get to work replacing the lost scourge from our on-board larvae, and then messaged Vorazun. "Way's clear. Go now!"

"Already on it," Vorazun replied, and I watched as the ground along the paths to the Zenith stones began to shimmer as dozens of dark templar cloaked in shadows rushed unseen through Amon's encampments.

I would have stuck around to watch them reach the Stones and dismantle them, making sure Amon didn't deploy any new overseers to spot them, but then Amon did something else to engage my attention. He attacked.

The moment the scourge passed overhead, Amon sent a small wave, clearly testing our defenses. By the time the dark templar set out, the torrent began. A massive and overwhelming force of zerg and hybrid began streaming unceasingly down each of the paths, clearly seeking to overwhelm our defenses.

I set my attention to directing my defenses and my armies and fleet, ordering them to prioritize hybrid and more vulnerable units. I was particularly alert for the appearance of any defilers. Amon should have had some in his army as the Overmind took some to Aiur that subsequently went feral. Defilers would have been devastating to our defenses, as their dark swarm ability would have protected their armies' advance and a single plague ability would severely damage my fortifications. But it looked like Amon wasn't a fan of defilers, or maybe none had survived the half-decade since the Overmind's death, since, thankfully, none ever appeared.

So, though the pressure from Amon's forces was enormous, my minions held the line. Many of my defenses and units were destroyed, but I kept up a constant stream of reinforcements as fast as my hatcheries and considerable resource-mining operations could sustain. I also called down droppods full of Leviathan forces on points in danger of being overwhelmed.

Meanwhile, on the Protoss side, Artanis' forces held their line, zealots and photon cannons supported by sentries and shield batteries destroying dozens or even hundreds of zerg for every one of them that finally fell. The hybrids were more difficult for Artanis, but even they fell beneath the hail of laser-fire and other orbital bombardments from their massive arkship.

It was a stressful experience. One mistake, one hole in our defenses that we failed to plug quickly enough, could have easily meant the doom of our forces and the premature destruction of the temple. I barely noticed when Vorazun finally called out, "It is done, the Zenith Stones have been destroyed. My templar will harass their backline until that tactic grows too dangerous."

"How much longer until the temple is ready, Artanis?" I called out a short time later through gritted teeth.

"The temple alignment is proceeding well," Artanis answered. "Fight on, brave warriors!"

We must have destroyed thousands of zerg, and several dozen hybrid, but the temple grounds just kept filling with more and more zerg, packing densely into the narrow pathways and the surrounding plains.

"I… I have never borne witness to so many zerg," Vorazun stammered, overcome at the sight. "Hierarch, was this the threat my mother once faced?"

"No, Matriarch," Artanis answered sadly. "This threat is a far greater one, and it will take all we have to resist it."

 _"How would Vorazun not have known that already?"_ I wondered. " _She was certainly alive four years ago. Was she off planet for the whole ordeal? Even though she was effectively a Protoss princess?"_ I didn't have much time to think about it, because just then, a group of overlords began flying towards the walls of the temple, where we had fewer defenses.

"I've seen this tactic before," Artanis called out. "They are transporting ground forces. Destroy the overloads, quickly!"

I moved hydralisks and mutalisks over to defend, and a hail of orbital laserfire fell from the Protoss arkship, and most of the overlords exploded before they could deploy their forces, but a battle ensued between my forces and those that landed.

We won, but that wasn't the first of Amon's attempts to circumvent the well-defended paths to the temple approachable from the ground by means of overlords and flying units. Soon enemy forces were swarming in from every angle of approach to the temple, and just as Artanis said, it was taking all we had to resist it.

Up until then, I had kept many forces in reserve in orbit, but I realized I would need to commit more. I was reluctant to risk my own Leviathan, but I ordered a couple of our handful of other Leviathans down to help. They deployed their fleets, and mutalisks and other units began swarming all over the temple. There really was no room for more forces - every inch of that temple on the ground and in the sky grew covered with defenders and attackers, each group replacing their fallen as soon as they fell.

It was chaos. My already straining senses quickly grew overwhelmed as I tried to track the battle, my experience a blur of beating wings and bleeding flesh and ripping claws and psionic emanations and orbital bombardments and feral screams and dark laughter and slashing blades and through it all the energy building higher and higher in the temple tugging at everyone's attention like a roaring bonfire around which us combatants danced our deadly dance.

Finally, a voice broke through the cacophony. Artanis shouted, "Over three billion of Amon's zerg now march across Shakuras to our location, and the temple thrums with energy! Cerebrate, how much longer can you hold?"

I gritted my teeth, isolating Artanis' psionic signature amidst the noise. "The battle grows costly," I telepathically shouted back. "And soon Amon will kill my zerg faster than I can replace them. I can hold out for minutes longer at most."

Suddenly, the ground all around and beneath the temple began to shake. The noise of the rumbling and quaking overpowered even the cacophony of the battle, and then it quieted, only to be replaced by screams of hundreds of Nydus worms. The Nydus worms promptly began spewing forth hundreds of zerg behind our defenses. Amon couldn't walk in by ground or fly in by air, so now he was tunnelling in underground, and there was no way we could stem this breach.

"Scratch that!" I called out to Artanis. "We can't hold out any longer! Activate the temple!"

"Evacuate your forces!" Artanis responded, but I was already in the process of getting every ground unit I could into overlords and every flying unit into orbit. Many did not make it.

Meanwhile, I overheard Artanis' own command. "Templar, initiate dimensional recall! Get to safety, now!" The Protoss had an easier time evacuating, as their forces were instantly warped aboard their arkship.

In the absence of our military, Amon's swarm flooded over the temple, laying waste to our immovable static defenses and attacking the temple itself. I felt the moment that the energy that had been building and building in that temple was released, like an electric charge in the air growing stronger, hair standing on end, until the lightning finally strikes. And when that temple released its lightning… it was a sight to behold. The blue explosion spread outward, annihilating everything in its path, but the majority of its energy stabbed downwards into Shakuras itself, instantly destroying Nydus worm, stone, bedrock, magma, everything it hit, showing no signs of stopping or even slowing all the way down into the planet's core. Then I sensed the energy explode outward, everywhere, and the planet blew up like a popped balloon. One moment, a dark blue sphere. The next, just scattered debris hurtling through the void. That was it. Shakuras was no more.

Some of my fliers didn't escape the energy in time, but the bulk of my forces warped a safe distance away. After ensuring everything was alright and there were no more surprises, I finally let out my breath and relaxed. It was over. The battle was won. Over three billion of Amon's zerg died this day. Amon could be fought. Amon could be defeated. This was only the beginning.


	48. Rifts to Korhal

I stared out the transparent eye of the Leviathan, watching the planetary debris float by, for some time. It was a beautiful and serene sight, betraying none of the violence that had created it. I lost track of time, but eventually I realized with a start that Artanis had not contacted me. I reached out to him instead. "Artanis," I messaged. "What's your status?"

There was a pause. "Tired," Artanis finally returned. "A Nydus worm entered the temple while I sought to activate it. The battle was grueling. But now I have risen again, exultant in our victory."

"Glad to hear it worked out," I replied. "Sorry I can't let you rest. Amon will not rest, so we have no time to lose. We must strategize our next move."

Artanis nodded. "Karax, my phase-smith, still works to unlock the secrets of the keystone. In the meantime, all we can do is build our forces. I do have an idea for where to find weapons that shall prove useful in the battles to come."

"Excellent," I answered. "As for the keystone, will you allow my evolution master to assist? He has extensive experience working on that artifact, from back when it was in our possession."

Artanis scowled, then softened. "I suppose you have earned to right to fight Amon alongside us. Send your evolution master. He will stay under constant supervision while aboard our vessel. If we suspect subterfuge, even for a moment, we will not hesitate to destroy him Do you accept these terms?"

"Absolutely," I replied without hesitation. "Those are eminently reasonable terms, given our history." I decided not to mention that we could easily replace our evolution master if they killed him. If Artanis thought it would be a significant loss, I saw no reason to convince him otherwise. "I will send him over." I sent the telepathic order to Abathur, and felt him acknowledge my command. "Now, will you require our assistance in retrieving these weapons you mentioned?"

Artanis shook his head. "We do not anticipate resistance."

"Good," I responded. "There are other battlegrounds where the Swarm must lend their assistance. Inform me when you've unlocked the keystone, and the Zerg will join you. We shall defeat Amon together."

Artanis' eyes brightened. "You are on your way to redeeming your race. The Protoss will never forget your atrocities, but continue to display your newfound honor, and perhaps the Protoss will forgive them. En Taro Adun, Cerebrate."

I smiled, recognizing the Protoss phrase as an acknowledgement of my worth as a comrade-in-arms. "Embrace the glory that is your birthright, Artanis," I responded, quickly thinking of a Zerg-ish phrase that might be comparable. Probably came off a little cheesy, but I think Artanis understood that I was trying to honor him according to Zerg standards. "And please, call me Magis."

…

A short warp jump later, and I was back on Char. Stukov, Zagara, and Dehaka were waiting, and we all met together again in my Leviathan. "Status updates?" I asked my allies simply once we had assembled.

Stukov spoke up first. His tone was calm, which, coupled with his thick Russian accent, gave off the impression of complete confidence even as he described a tragedy. "We lost many infested on Moria to Amon's control," he began. "They were too far from our overlords and hives; your control signal was too weak, and Amon overpowered it. These infested, supported by Amon's forces and hybrid, attacked those of the Kel-Morian miners still affiliated with the Swarm. Zagara and I defended them until their transports could evacuate. It was quite difficult, as the enemy would travel directly to any transport that began warming its engines, and several of the transport pilots grew too nervous to wait for us to prepare defenses before they began the launch sequence. I regret to say that we did lose one of the transports, when its pilot tried to leave while Zagara and I were occupied with destroying a new and deadly strain of zerg the locals had named "Blightbringer." But we brought the rest of the Morians safely to Char, and I sent Blightbringer's corpse to Abathur's evolution pit for reverse-engineering."

"You did well, Stukov," I declared softly, saddened by the news of the enslaved and murdered infested. "I could have done no better. What about our other colonies, like Mar Sara?"

"Our other colonies are either lost or evacuated," Zagara answered in her low scratchy voice. "The Swarm endures on Char alone."

I nodded slowly, then sighed. "Alright, that's about what I expected. What about Char, has it faced an attack, Dehaka?"

Dehaka clawed at his shoulder absentmindedly. "Significant incursion in the territory marked by the ruins of a Terran fortress. Hybrid. Many void thrashers. Moebius machine, called Archangel. Testing us. Attacked hive. My pack responded, my pack fought. Abathur assisted. Together, void thrashers destroyed, hybrid devoured, metal machines dismantled. I gained much essence."

"New evolutions deployed," Abathur chimed in proudly. "No enemy survivors. Incursion not repeatable."

I smiled. "Excellent work, you two. It sounds like Char remains safe for now. We should act to undermine Amon's efforts before he gets a chance to try to change that. Izsha, Warfield, what we know of his movements?"

Warfield answered first. "The Terrans battle Amon across the Koprulu sector," he said calmly. "Amon has triggered volcanic eruptions on the planet Veridia Prime, which will destroy the planet and all its inhabitants if the Terrans do not receive aid in stopping him. A distress signal indicates he has also attacked the planet Bel'Shir, seeking to harvest a substance the Terrans call Terrazine which he uses to power his psionic forces. Additionally, Amon's previous failure on Korhal has not dissuaded him from trying again. Augustgrad has come under attack. The Terrans are reporting the presence of Void Shards, which will explode, killing everyone in the city, if the shards are not destroyed."

I expected Warfield to make an impassioned plea to save them, but he didn't. Warfield's lack of emotional investment was starting to annoy me. Most infested didn't react like this, which made me think it was just a coping mechanism. I would have asked Abathur to do something, but Warfield needed a therapist, not a DNA change. The image of Abathur asking someone about their feelings made me smile.

Then I realized that to the outside observer I had just smiled in response to a report of a potential tragedy, and quickly controlled my facial expression again. Thankfully, if anyone noticed, no one commented, and Izsha continued where Warfield left off. "Additionally, we have just received a transmission from General Davis," the tentacle-woman said calmly. "She has found another of Amon's hybrid breeding facilities, and is requesting our aid in destroying it."

I nodded solemnly. "It sounds like we need to split up. There are eight of us capable of commanding armies, and four locations we should assist. So we'll send two to each location, and leave a garrison and a couple other Abathurs here to defend Char in the unlikely event that Amon tries something here again. Dehaka, you're the most powerful against hybrid, you go help Davis. Warfield, you go with him, be our liaison with Davis, and take some of our zerg with you. The volcanic explosions on Veridia Prime sound dangerous. Zagara, Abathur, you two go there. Your armies are the most replaceable and the most likely to evolve a resistance to lava, respectively. Stukov, Izsha, you stop Amon on Bel'Shir. Nova and I will go save Augustgrad again. Any questions?"

There were no questions.

…

There were enough leviathans now that each commander could travel to their assigned battle in style. Nova and I flew back to Augustgrad with ours, and I tried to assess the situation there. I was quickly hailed by a Terran battlecruiser, and the voice that greeted me this time was not Davis' nor Valerian's.

"Zerg vessel," came the transmission. "Have you come to assist us again? We could use the help."

I knew that voice and face. That was Matt Horner. He was a commander in the Sons of Korhal; he had worked closely with Raynor. He'd reminded me of myself, in a frightening way. Always thought his idealism would get the men under his command killed, much as mine had once. I tended to stay away from him.

"Commander Horner," I addressed him. "Indeed we have. How can we help?"

"It's Admiral Horner now," Matt corrected, smiling. "I must say I am glad to hear that the former magistrate of Mar Sara did not turn out to be the traitor to humanity I was led to believe he was. Please, send your forces to Augustgrad. We have to destroy these void shards as soon as possible."

Suddenly, a pink-haired woman with an unfamiliar accent inserted herself into the video conference.

"Oh, who is this, Matthew?" she asked, peering at me. "Backup, perhaps?"

Matt sighed. "Mira, this is… what do you go by now?" he looked at me.

"Magis," I answered.

"Mira, Magis," Matt continued briskly. "Magis leads the Zerg and has offered his aid. Magis, Mira. Mira leads a band of mercenaries we hired to safeguard Augustgrad."

"Annnnnd?" Mira asked playfully.

"And…" Matt sighed again. "She's also my wife."

"See, husband, that's not so hard. Now, shall we get to work?"

Matt nodded. "We've set aside a base of operations to the southwest. Join us, Magus. We don't have much time before the void shards explode."

The next half hour or so were spent building a base and retaking Augustgrad from Amon's forces. Mira surprised me by pulling her weight in the fight. She deployed some interesting Terran technology I hadn't seen before: mag mines and jetpacks and floating fortresses. Made me wonder why the Dominion didn't employ such technology. In any case, Matt supported our efforts with Dominion starships. Also, some pirates stupidly decided to loot the city in the middle of the fight. I threw a handful of scourge at their starships and slaughtered them all. A corporal under Horner briefly interjected with some useless transmission about how the Dominion's "rule of law holds firm," but I ignored him. It was a pretty mundane battle, all told. Soon, the void shards lay broken and scattered across the damaged ground of Augustgrad.

"Sometimes your knack for violence impresses even me, Mira," Matt messaged as the last void shard fell. "And thank you for assistance, Magis. We would have been lost without you."

I nodded. "Hopefully next time the Dominion will be able to protect itself."

Matt stiffened. "The Terrans are a hardy people. We've taken a beating, but we'll come back. We just need time to recover. Now, I suppose you'll be off, fighting Amon somewhere else?" he trailed off suggestively.

"Eager to be rid of me, are you?" I smiled, an idea taking shape in my mind. "No, I'm starting to think that the Terrans may require our help on a more permanent basis." I paused, staring out the Leviathan down at the base I had constructed outside Augustgrad. Large enough the Terrans could not ignore it, small enough that, once I left, it could not truly threaten the Terrans. "I think I'll leave this hive cluster here," I announced.

Matt looked confused. "We appreciate your assistance, Magis, but a Zerg colony right outside our capital city will make most Terrans… uncomfortable."

"Think of it as a diplomatic embassy," I said smoothly. "I'm sure Valerian has tried to open diplomatic relations with the Umojans and the remnants of the Kel-morians. This is the same. I'll remove all military units, so you don't have to fear attack, but I'll keep a small force of harmless drones and overlords so that you can easily talk to me."

"I'll... speak with Valerian about this," Matt finally gave in.

"Please do. But you're not really in a position to argue at the moment, so I think I know what his answer will be. Oh, and don't forget to broadcast on UNN who won this battle for you. Tell them anyone who wants to can come to the Zerg's new embassy outside Augustgrad to be infested and transported to the rest of Zerg society."

Matt's eyes went wide briefly, then he gritted his teeth. "The Terrans are suffering enough as they are without losing citizens to your foul infestation."

I smiled. "Breaking your professional exterior a bit, eh, Matt? Well, if the Terrans are suffering, there's an easy solution: stop being Terran. Come on Matt, don't you want immortality?"

"Not particularly," Matt answered. "And even if I did, the price is too high."

"Spoken like a true mercenary," Mira chimed in. I'd forgotten she was patched in to the conversation. "Quality over quantity, husband. Live free, take what you want, die in a giant explosion!" Mira burst into cackling laughter.

Matt shook his head. "That's… not what I meant."

I spoke up, smiling. "Well, if either of you change your mind, just come to our embassy. In the meantime, I've got a war to win. Try to keep Augustgrad safe this time, okay?"

"I believe the worst has passed," Matt replied, keeping his face impressively neutral despite my jab. "We'll hold down the fort."

"Keep the money flowing, dear, and my crew will keep those nasty Moebius forces away, no problem!" Mira said happily.

I nodded and then ended the transmission. True to my word, I evacuated my remaining military forces, but otherwise left the hive cluster intact. I also left several Abathurs behind to staff the evolution chamber and infest any Terrans who took me up on my offer. Then, I took my Leviathan and began the warp to meet up with the others.

It wasn't until after I made it back to Char that I realized. Nova was missing.


	49. Temple of Unification

I quickly cast about with my senses, but could find no trace of Nova either on the Leviathan or near the embassy on Korhal. She had disconnected herself from the hivemind. I thought back, trying to remember where I had seen her last. She'd deployed herself to the ground during the battle over Augustgrad, personally destroying a couple of the void shards. But my attention had been on the whole of my forces. I would have sensed if she died, but if she just slipped away during the chaos of battle, cloaking herself from my sight… I could not have known.

But why would she do that? What did she hope to accomplish? She didn't have the keystone; she'd be stuck as an infested. Did she just want to stay with the Terrans? But we were fighting Amon, this was important, and she knew that! Argh… well, if she stupidly wanted out of the Zerg family, she got what she wanted. We couldn't afford to go searching for a ghost who didn't want to be found in the middle of a war. I could ask Matt and Valerian if they're harboring her, but if they were they'd deny it.

Whatever her plan was, I doubted she would directly impede our campaign against Amon. And between regaining Nova and stopping Amon, I knew what I needed to prioritize. So, growling at Nova's stupidity, I turned to the matter at hand. Soon, I had rendezvoused with the rest of my allies. They reported success in each of their respective missions, and then, while we were still conferring, we received a transmission.

Izsha barely had time to announce him before Artanis' face showed up on the Leviathan's screen. "Magis, we have reclaimed the weapons we sought, and moreover, my phase-smith has unlocked the keystone. It points us to a place in the Alterian Rift where, we believe, the legendary Xel'Naga temple of Ulnar may be found. We are transmitting the coordinates now."

Iszha threw a map of the Korulu sector up on the fleshy screen and marked the transmitted coordinates. My advisors and I exchanged glances. "Artanis?" I began slowly. "Kerrigan traveled to that location before all this started, believing the Tal'Darim were hiding something there, and we haven't heard from her since. We worried there was nothing there but a black hole, or something equally deadly."

Artanis frowned. Well, with his eyes. "Kerrigan. I had wondered where she disappeared to. Though the journey may be perilous, it is where the keystone directs us, and I will heed Zeratul's words. It is the keystone that will usher us unto hope."

"We lost contact with Kerrigan the moment she exited warp space, Artanis," I warned. "Either something there blocks all communication or something there kills instantly. Until we know which, we…"

"Not to worry," Artanis interrupted. "It is the former. Rohanna, the ancient preserver, has informed me that the Protoss have historically known the Alterian Rift to interfere with any psionic signals entering or exiting the rift. It is likely the reason the Xel'Naga chose that location to build their temple."

I paused, then turned to my advisors, implicitly asking for their opinion.

Abathur shrugged. "Accuracy unknown. Plausible."

Izsha nodded. Zagara, Stukov, and Warfield just watched me.

I sighed. "Alright, let me test this theory. We'll warp to the outskirts of the rift and send an overlord in. If we can't sense it, then we'll warp the rest of the way in to the keystone's coordinates."

Artanis chuckled lightly. "If you insist. The Daelaam shall lead the charge. Join us when you feel safe."

I nodded and ended the transmission.

…

I took my time testing, as I wasn't about to accidentally throw away my immortal life on the word of a large crystal. But no matter how far into the rift I sent my overlords, they returned unharmed, even though we'd always lose telepathic contact with them. So, finally, I took the plunge. My Leviathan and those of my companions warped to the keystone's coordinates. Happily alive, I stared out the window to see a massive Xel'Naga space station looming over us. Ulnar.

I sensed Artanis and many of his forces already inside the station. And what's more, I sensed… Kerrigan was with him!

"About time you showed up, Magus," Kerrigan growled. She must have sensed me the same time I sensed her.

"I'm happy to see you too, Kerr," I smiled at her.

"You're lucky you see me at all. I've been fighting hybrid in here for weeks. Don't tell Artanis, but I don't know how much longer I'd have survived without assistance. The worst part is the whispering. I don't think Abathur's version of primal infestation took away every trace of Amon's control, just most of it. I can fight him off, but it's so annoying, especially in the heat of battle."

That information worried me, but it didn't seem like there was anything to be done but speak comforting words. "Well, we're here now, Kerr," I replied. "You can rest easy. I'll join you soon."

"Hurry. Artanis and I are not waiting. The halls of Ulnar have been unlocked. The answers we seek... within... grasp." 

Her telepathic signal grew faint and I could not make out all of what she said. "Kerr? Kerr, can you hear me?"

There was no response. I mentally flailed about, reaching for Artanis' signal, but could not sense it either.

I was getting real tired of this. Since she had dropped off gradually, I suspected it was just the Rift and the ambient Void energy interfering with our psionics. I opened a channel to the nearby Protoss arkship. Vorazun answered.

"Vorazun, can you sense Artanis?" I asked.

Vorazun did not respond at first. Her eyes just stared, judging me. There was a moment where I thought she would just close the channel. Then she replied, "No, the hierarch chose to delve the temple's depths alone."

I blinked. "That seems... unwise." I sighed. "Well, at least Kerrigan's with him."

"The traitor who corrupted my mother?" Vorazun's voice took on a harsh demanding tone and her eyes flashed their green light intensely. "She is here?"

"Oh." I stammered sheepishly. "You didn't know. Uh, yes, Vorazun, she is here, and she is on our side against Amon."

"If she does anything to Artanis, I will slice her apart!" Vorazun declared threateningly. Then, just as I was getting worried, racking my brain for a strategy on how to handle this situation, Vorazun calmed down, her eyes dimming again. "But I cannot deny the valor your Zerg showed on Shakuras. If Kerrigan truly aids us… I will tolerate her. For now."

I nodded. "You will not regret it. She-"

I was interrupted by a loud whooshing sound and Iszha's sudden telepathic warning. "My Lord, a large spike of void energies has erupted from the temple!"

"Where is the energy-" I started asking, dimly aware of Vorazun carrying on a similar conversation with one of her underlings on the arkship. Then Vorazun suddenly disappeared from the Leviathan's screen, replaced by a flash of brilliant light. Like lightning, the brightness left as quickly as it came, but in its place there appeared a large Protoss clothed in black and red. A Tal'Darim.

"Look out!" I called, but Vorazun and her aides in the arkship's control room had already spotted the teleported threat. They immediately attacked, and a fight ensued.

It didn't last long enough for me to do more than briefly consider the merits of sending zerg reinforcements before the Tal'Darim has tossed aside and disarmed all his attackers as though they were no more a threat to him than a sword is a threat to the ocean.

"I do not come as your enemy, dark templar." the Tal'Darim said, though his derisive and threatening tone suggested otherwise.

As I watched, a stasis field appeared around the Tal'Darim, trapping him. Vorazun or one of her aides must have activated it.

The Tal'Darim seemed undaunted. "You must listen to me, Matriarch," the Tal'Darim declared, not pleading, simply stating a fact. "Amon's trap has sprung. Your leader is in grave danger."

Vorazun scoffed. "You think us fools?"

"Yes," answered the Tal'Darim simply, "But that is irrelevant."

I barked out a laugh. I already liked this Tal'Darim!

"What is relevant," the Tal'Darim continued, "is that Amon has opened a gateway to the Void. Dark energies pour from within, and they burn through your precious leader, and any who oppose Amon. I can guide you to Artanis before this fate befalls him. If we are bold, we can stop the Dark God's assault."

Vorazun scoffed. "Am I to believe that the moment you're released. Your blade will not be in my back?"

Alarak rolled his eyes. "You waste time." He turned to stare at the arkship's communication screen, looking right at me. "And are the Zerg equally foolish?"

I shook my head. "No. There's no reason to doubt your words. The Zerg will aid you."

"Perhaps I should have addressed you first, then." His eyes began to glow and ambient energy swirled around him. Then he released the energy with a swift arm movement and the stasis field disappeared. "Lower your blades!" the Tal'Darim shouted authoritatively to Vorazun and her aides. "I am Alarak, First Ascendant of the Tal'darim," he announced, walking confidently towards Vorazun. "Amon has betrayed my people. Retribution will be claimed for this, and if your Hierarch survives, he will aid in it!" Alarak leaned in close to Vorazun's face. "Make your decision."

Vorazun looked away from Alarak, to me and then towards the left of my screen, where I presumed she could see Ulnar out the window. Finally, she turned back towards Alarak. "You will take us to Artanis."

"Most wise," Alarak whispered threateningly. Then he drew back from Vorazun. "Lock onto my psionic signal and I will lead you." He disappeared in a flash of light, teleporting out the way he came in.

. . .

We did as he said. I personally led as many Zerg as I could fit in Ulnar's relatively narrow halls down the path Alarak walked, even as Vorazun marched a contingent of Protoss down other nearby corridors. I preferred to lead from the Leviathan, but I knew I'd lose my telepathic connection with my forces if I tried that, and it felt good to use my abilities to participate in combat personally every once in a while.

After a considerable journey into the depths of the space station, Alarak finally paused in a large chamber with many connected hallways, gestured down the nearest one, and said to Vorazun, "This path will lead your forces to Artanis. I have done as I promised, dark templar. Now go tell your hierarch I am waiting for him." Then he turned to me. "And you, ruler of the Zerg, rescue your queen and join me, if the Zerg have the strength of will to stand against Amon." Not waiting for a response, he strode regally down a different corridor, presumably to rejoin his Tal'Darim forces.

Traveling down the indicated corridor and destroying all enemies we encountered, we finally reached Kerrigan and Artanis desperately battling several hybrid for their lives.

"To me, my Swarm!" Kerrigan called out psionically the moment she sensed our approach.

Artanis quickly followed suit, "Templar, join us, quickly!"

We collapsed on their position and quickly overwhelmed the hybrid with our power. When they were safely destroyed, their bodies evaporating in a flash, I rushed to Kerrigan and embraced her.

"It is good to see you again, Kerr," I whispered as I hugged her. "Before coming to Ulnar, I had worried you were lost to me."

Kerrigan smiled and pulled away. "No need to fear that, Magis," she replied wearily. "I will handle anything Amon can throw at me, no matter the challenge."

I smiled back. "I am sure you will. But you should rest anyway."

Kerrigan started to protest, but I interrupted her.

"Kerr, I can tell that you are exhausted. It's okay. I'll set up a base, you go to the hatchery and relax in the creep for a while. You've earned it. I'll be fine fighting Amon without you. The Protoss have my back."

It looked like Kerrigan had been convinced until I mentioned the Protoss. Her eyes flashed and she held her head up high. "I will not appear weak before Artanis. I'll handle it. Come on, Amon has opened a portal to the Void. We have to shut it down."

I sighed. "Alright, Kerr. Lead the way."

We set about constructing a base and conferred with Vorazun and Artanis on strategy. It was decided that the Swarm would occupy the brunt of Amon's guards while Artanis' forces would destroy the void crystals powering Amon's portal.

That's what we did. There were some frightening moments as the destructive void energy from Amon's portal oozed into our base and Artanis failed to destroy crystals as quickly as I would like. Many Zerg fell to Amon's defenses, more than I could easily replace, but there were enough resources hidden inside Ulnar that I was able to stay a dangerous distraction for Amon's forces as I sent waves of Zerg minions at him in advance of Artanis' forces. Kerrigan herself frequently joined them, though I tried to dissuade her, and sometimes I even went along with her to keep her healed. I noticed she liked to posture for Artanis, announcing our army's pushes into Amon's territory with telepathic broadcasts like, "Minions, push forward, engage Amon's forces. Artanis, join me, if you wish." She could have commanded our minions through the hivemind, using telepathic connections the Protoss could not understand, but instead she chose to make these announcements intelligible to them. And she never showed any of her exhaustion to them.

Eventually, we threw enough of our forces at Amon's defenders to punch through to each of the void crystals and destroy them. The void energies receded until, unpowered, Amon's portal to the void consumed itself and collapsed in a violent flash of swirling light.

"Let this be a reckoning!" Artanis declared, seizing the opportunity for an inspiring speech. "From this point forward, we stand united. We shall turn back the tide of Amon's darkness!"

I had to admit, his confidence was contagious. He was a charismatic leader, and as we returned to our bases, his forces and I looked to the future with hope. Still, part of me doubted that finally defeating the last Xel'Naga would prove so simple.


	50. Unlikely Allies

Shortly after, Artanis sought Kerrigan and I out within the now-quiet halls of the Xel'Naga temple. "We fought well this day, Kerrigan," he said, addressing her first. "Do you intend to join our fight, as your friend Magis has? Together we can defeat Amon and send him back into the Void!"

Kerrigan looked up at Artanis through heavy-lidded eyes, tired but determined. She glanced at me before answering. "I will continue fighting Amon, but I need time to recover from our battles here."

Artanis shook his head. "My people are being consumed, their very flesh burned into Amon's own. I cannot wait for you."

My eyes shot up. "Wait, what did you say, Artanis?"

Kerrigan spoke up before the Protoss hierarch could. "In the temple Amon revealed to us that he's building a host body for his essence out of the biomass of Protoss on Aiur. Also, we found the other Xel'Naga here, but they were all dead, Amon has already killed them. And creating species like the Zerg and the Protoss is part of the Xel'Naga life cycle, but we were supposed to be allowed to develop on our own until the Xel'Naga saw fit to harvest us to be new hosts for them. Amon wants to stop the reproductive cycle and he interfered with the evolution of both the Zerg and the Protoss." She turned to Artanis. "Did I leave anything out?"

"Your cavalier manner of speech concerning such weighty matters disturbs me, Kerrigan, but no, that seems an efficient summary of our findings."

Kerrigan nodded.

My mind reeled. This was a lot of information I needed to process quickly. Most immediately, it was clear the "find other Xel'Naga" strategy we had considered for dealing with Amon needed to be discarded as an option, if they were already dead. And yet defeating Amon was now all the more pressing, as who knew how powerful he would be when hosted in the body made of psionically powerful Protoss flesh?

I collected my thoughts. "It sounds like we've gathered all we can from Ulnar. What's your next step, Artanis? Return to Aiur?"

Artanis sighed telepathically. "I am not sure. I had hoped the keystone's coordinates would provide a neat solution. Now-"

Kerrigan interrupted. "That was a foolish dream, Artanis, and nothing has changed: gather allies, subjugate enemies, do whatever you can to ensure victory. Survival is never pretty."

Artanis regarded Kerrigan with amusement. "We are very different leaders, but I thank you, nonetheless. I must confer with my allies in council."

I nodded. "The Zerg will join your council. We will plan Amon's defeat together."

…

I left a token force to hold Ulnar and alert us if Amon tried something, and then returned to the Leviathan with the bulk of my army.

Shortly thereafter, Izsha connected us to the largest video conference call I'd seen yet. In the old days we rarely had more than four leaders in a single conference. Today, between the Leviathan and the Protoss arkship, there were twelve.

Artanis began with an announcement. "The Void portal within Ulnar has been sealed, but a greater threat looms. Amon is transforming our people into a host form."

"Then we should strike immediately!" Vorazun declared. "Defend our people."

"At the moment, that would be suicide," said an unfamiliar female Protoss whose old but wise eyes suggested to me that she was the preserver Artanis had named Rohanna. "Amon's forces run rampant across the sector, but the moment we approach Aiur, he will recall his forces and we will be destroyed."

"Then we must eliminate his outlying forces!" Vorazun pronounced.

"The most dangerous such force is the Golden Armada," Rohanna continued sadly. "Amon has unleashed our own weaponry to eradicate life from planets across the Koprulu sector."

"If there is even a chance that we can remove Amon from the Khala and preserve the lives of our brethren," Artanis responded. "We must take it. We cannot engage the Great Fleet just yet."

"I'm sorry," I interrupted. "Amon's in the Khala? I was never informed of this."

Artanis turned to regard my face on the arkship's screen sadly. "I apologize, friend Magis. Amon controls my people through the Khala. Those of us free of his influence on this ship have severed our nerve cords to remove our connection to the Khala."

 _Sounds like a similar problem to the one the Zerg faced with Amon controlling the hivemind_ , I thought.

"Except for me," Rohanna spoke up proudly. "I can manage his influence."

Artanis shook his head. "I still believe you must sever your nerve cords, Rohanna. We cannot risk you falling under Amon's sway."

"The Khala was created in our darkest moment," Rohanna preached, lifting up her head as a faraway look entered her eye. "Only its light was able to bind our people—to give us unity. We are born into it, and when we die, our spirits become one with it. It is worth fighting for."

Artanis shook his head. "But now Amon uses it against us. It sustains his existence. Its time must end."

Rohana gazed at Artanis sternly. "Artanis, through the Khala, our every thought and emotion are made as one. I feel his thoughts and emotions swirling like a vortex throughout. He does not realize it, but here within the Khala, he is vulnerable."

"How?" Artanis demanded.

"Just as he can see into me, I can see into him," Rohanna answered. "We can use this to our advantage, Hierarch. I know it."

Artanis shook his head. "It is not worth it."

Rohana looked sad. "Please, I only ask for time."

"You waste time bickering!" Alarak interrupted, his frustration evident in his voice. "The Tal'darim's death fleets are your threat. They amass at Slayn, awaiting the start of full scale invasion. I have come with an offer. You will aid me in invoking a challenge for the right to rule my kind as Highlord. And in return, I will grant you cessation of hostilities between our people."

The Protoss quieted in response to Alarak's outburst, apparently reflecting on his trustworthiness. One thing he said surprised me.

"And will you also aid us in the fight against Amon?" I addressed Alarak. "Or will you merely remove your people from the conflict?"

Alarak turned his fierce gaze upon me, and I was grateful that we were connected by video conference rather than meeting face to face. "I will end Amon. But I cannot tether my fate to yours. Hatred does not burn within any of you as it does in me. You do not seethe with the agony of knowing all you believed in is a lie, and that only solace is found in the destruction of your betrayer."

"No?" Artanis shouted, upset at Alarak's accusation. "Amon corrupted my people and now turns them into hybrid abominations. My rage burn brighter than a thousand suns, and soon all will see my wrath unleashed!"

Alarak's eyes smiled at Artanis' outburst. "Then this is something I hope to witness."

"Do not underestimate my wrath either, Tal'Darim," Kerrigan broke into the conversation. "I have fought off Amon's hybrid and his controlling influence on my own for weeks. I have taken my revenge on every creature who has wronged me, whether Terran, Zerg, or Protoss. Amon will be no different. I will make him pay for his offenses. If you wish to destroy Amon, you'll have to follow my path of slaughter."

Alarak turned his smile to Kerrigan. "We shall see who follows whose path of slaughter, Zerg. But perhaps we may coordinate our efforts. It does not matter until we journey to Slayn and wrest control of the Tal'Darim from Malash."

"The Tal'Darim are not our only threat," said a robotic dragoon-like Protoss I had assumed was a mere guard. "We have the remainder of Amon's Zerg broods to contend with. The ancient Purifiers were designed for war. If we reactivate them, we can build our armies and cleanse the sector of Amon's Zerg broods in one fell swoop."

That information surprised me. Not only had I never heard of purifiers, but apparently purifiers had a weapon that could destroy all Zerg in moments? This seemed dangerous.

"Assuming they do not turn on us first," Rohanna scowled. "The Purifiers possess no loyalty - no honor."

The dragoon-like thing looked about to respond, but Artanis interrupted. "Our predecessors betrayed the Purifiers, Rohanna. I agree with Fenix, I believe we can convince the Purifiers to aid us."

"You understand, of course," I interjected. "That if there's even a chance these 'purifiers' will fail to discriminate between Amon's Zerg and us friendly Zerg, I must vehemently protest any attempts to activate them."

There was a pause, which I took as proof that the Protoss were not certain how these "purifiers" would react.

"The Zerg can take care of the Zerg," I continued. "I doubt alien creatures will be welcome in whatever ritual challenge the Tal'Darim use to decide their Highlord. While you all assist Alarak, the Swarm will regain control of Amon's wayward broods."

"Even so," said Fenix, whom I gathered was named after the fallen Protoss warrior. "The Purifiers would assist in an invasion of Aiur."

Artanis nodded. "We will consider that later, Fenix. For now, Magis' plan seems a good one."

Stukov spoke up for the first time. "Do not forget Moebius Corps. We have destroyed many of their outposts, but they can still field significant forces. We must destroy their remaining hidden bases before they can create still more hybrid to send against us."

"This is true," Artanis replied, "but we cannot engage them without knowing where they are. Vorazun, send your most elite dark templar to scour the sector."

"It will be done as you say, Hierarch," Vorazen replied.

"Good. Is there anything else we must discuss?" Artanis said.

"Ahem," another, shorter Protoss cleared his throat. I noted with some surprise that an Abathur stood beside him. I gathered this was the phase-smith Karax that Artanis had mentioned. "Hierarch, I believe we have found a way to save our people. As Zeratul foresaw, the Keystone can indeed be our salvation."

Artanis' eyes widened. "Explain yourself."

Karax continued. "We believe the Keystone was designed to be found and assembled by those who would ascend to become Xel'naga. After leading them to Ulnar, it would also expel its stored energy to awaken the slumbering Xel'naga. The Keystone siphons energies and redistributes them. Essence, matter, information, consciousness... to this device, they are all the same."

"This is how it cleansed Kerrigan and Magis?" asked Artanis

"Affirmative," answered the Abathur beside Karax. "Stone extracted zerg essence, redistributed, made Terran. Enemy used siphoned energy, released Amon from Void."

"If we can discover how to control the Keystone ourselves," Karax added, "we could use it to extract Amon from the Khala and save our people."

Artanis' eyes twinkled. "Then Zeratul has led us to hope after all. Continue your research, Karax. We have a war to take to Amon!"

The conference call ended soon after Artanis' proclamation, and the Zerg and the Protoss began preparations for the next stage of our war against Amon.


	51. Purification

Shortly thereafter, my Leviathan was on its way to the world of Endion. Iszha had determined that Amon's zerg brood, weakened as it was by the destruction of Shakuras, remained primarily in two locations alone: Aiur, where we could not safely travel, and the forest moon Endion. I had never heard of the place, but Artanis had informed us that the Protoss' most prestigious facility for scientific research had been located there. Unfortunately, the Protoss had received the emergency transmissions the scientists had broadcast when Amon's brood descended upon them, massacring everyone. Clearly, Amon had been worried about what the research station might offer the Protoss in the war effort. Or perhaps he was just worried about the Purifiers, who resided dormant in a sealed space station orbiting the moon, and had sent his Swarm there to prevent anyone from waking them. Well, I had no interest in waking the Purifiers, but I did very much want to regain control of these Zerg.

Kerrigan was still recovering in one of the Leviathan's many chambers, attended by queens and Abathurs as she lay in creep and various Zerg fluids, grateful for the opportunity to finally succumb to her fatigue. The rest of the Zerg leaders met with me at the head of the Leviathan, save Warfield, whom I ordered to return to Char to defend it in case the "Golden Armada" Rohanna and Artanis spoke of decided to invade Zerg territory.

"Alright, Abathur," I began, "How do we get our overmind control signal to overpower Amon's? Endion is pretty far from Aiur or from any portal to the Void, so I have to assume his influence is weak here. He was able to wrest control of some of my infested when my influence was weak. How do I repay the favor?"

The Abathur representative put his spindly hands together thoughtfully. He was silent for a moment, then spoke. "No Cerebrates. No Broodmothers. Sole possibility: Amon's control extended by hybrid. Destroy hybrid, signal weakens."

I frowned. "Well, that's something, but if there's hybrid on Endion there's no way we'll be able to reach and kill them without killing all the zerg along the way, and even if we wanted to do that I doubt we have the power to. Any other ideas?" I glanced around the room.

I was met with blank stares.

I sighed. "Alright, let me think." I started pacing around in a small circle, staring at the floor. "What are our resources? We have several Leviathans' worth of units and a small stockpile of leftover minerals. We have Stukov's infested and Abathur's evolutions and Dehaka's adaptations and my own abilities. That's about it. What are we up against? On the planet lies hundreds of well-populated zerg colonies, if our scouting data is accurate, and now we're surmising they're accompanied by hybrid. What else could interfere? Endion's remote enough that neither Amon nor us will be receiving reinforcements any time soon. Hmm… what does Endion itself have to offer? An infested forest, a dead research facility, and a Purifier space station. There's no reason to think anything in the forest can help, and there's no reason to think waking the Purifiers will result in anything but the destruction of all Zerg, us as well as them."

"That leaves us with the research facility," I continued after a brief pause. "Might we find something useful there? Hang on, what do Protoss research? They already have such a mastery of science. They control space, teleporting at will, they control time, placing enemies in stasis, they control death itself, living forever unless they are injured, in which case they can be placed in robotic Dragoons to keep them alive indefinitely. The whole natural world is their plaything. Is there anything they do not understand? Let's see… they don't understand the Xel'Naga. I'll wager there's some Xel'Naga relics in that facility. They have limited understanding of the Terrans and the Zerg… in fact I'll bet one of the things they were studying was the Zerg hivemind. They had to have known about the success the UED enjoyed in using the psi disruptor against us, and they had to have been motivated to make a similar weapon in case the Swarm decided to attack. That would also explain why Amon prioritized destroying this facility."

I turned towards my allies suddenly. "That's it, then. We have a plan. Break into the research facility, look for where they might hide research on Zerg or on psionics. There's a reason Amon attacked here and left so many Zerg to guard the place. I doubt he had good reason to think the Protoss would risk waking the Purifiers. There's something else. Let's find it."

Stukov nodded. "I will organize an insertion team immediately."

…

Not wanting to alert the whole infested planet to our presence, we sent a small group of powerful primal zerg, led by Dehaka and accompanied by an Abathur, to explore the large facility. Enough of Amon's zerg lingered there that any nearby hybrid would notice our incursion as we fought our way through them and send reinforcements, so I also set up a distraction. Scouts reported a group of intact Protoss colossi in a nearby garage-like building. Further inspection revealed a big red "on" button nearby. I sent a disposable zergling to push the button, and sure enough, the AI in the colossi activated, immediately vaporizing the zergling, and then they began acting on their built-in protocols to search for and destroy other nearby zerg. I was not sure why the Protoss scientists had been unable to activate them for self-defense, but it was to our advantage now.

I had other zerglings explore nearby buildings, and found a few other Protoss constructs, including something labeled a "megalith," and activated them all. They began marching out into the forest, destroying every zerg they saw.

Amon's brood would defeat the constructs soon enough, but all I needed was for them to provide a distraction while Dehaka's elite pack explored the facility.

It wasn't long before Abathur reported sensing an odd psionic signal. "Protoss Pylon energy field detected. Source unknown. No pylon in range."

"Long range pylons?" I mused. "Makes sense that would be something Protoss scientists would work on. Keep exploring the facility and see if you can find the source."

Soon, Abathur had located the source, resting in a large laboratory, and his report amazed me. "Source discovered. Not pylon. Construct similar to Terran psi emitter. Core replaced with Protoss crystal. Function likely amplification of psionic signal. Testing."

I sensed Abathur move to place himself at one end of the device, facing a tube lined with crystals around which Terran machinery rotated. "Commencing communication. Purpose experimental." He paused. "Results impressive."

Indeed it was impressive. His psionic connection to the Leviathan had received a massive upgrade. It was like the difference between listening to music through Joey Ray's old jukebox on Mar Sara and listening through a state of the art sound system in a Confederate academy. Abathur's telepathic voice was much clearer and more present, and I suspected its range extended far beyond the normal range for a Zerg's telepathic transmission.

Unfortunately, it was also clear that his signal had grown strong enough that even those not connected to our hivemind could sense it. The hybrid learned of our presence.

Abathur quickly reached the same conclusion I did. "Recommend immediate evacuation," he said, slithering away from the device.

"Agreed," I replied. "Make sure you bring that device! I'll send in a force to extract you."

Dehaka promptly severed the cords tying the device to the floor and picked it up, tucking it under one of his arms. "Metal, crystal," he muttered disappointedly. "Not evolution." Despite his discontent, he carried the device carefully as he and his pack fought his way out of the facility, so perhaps our conversation on Skygeirr about not underestimating technology had made an impact on him. Or perhaps he recognized that we did not have access to whatever essence would be necessary to achieve a similar amplificatory effect organically.

Overlords and mutalisks descended from the Leviathan. The fleet of mutalisks held off Amon's broods, who had finally finished off all the Protoss constructs I had activated, as they rushed to confront my forces in the facility. Once Dehaka's pack made it outside, the overlords quickly picked them up and transported them back to the Leviathan. Then I recalled the mutalisks, so my forces escaped with minimal losses.

Once Dehaka was onboard again, I walked to meet him myself. "Excellent work," I said. Dehaka acknowledged my praise with a nod and placed the device carefully on the Leviathan's fleshy ground.

I walked up to and examined it, accompanied by Abathur. "Curious," I mused aloud as I examined the device. "I wonder how these Protoss got their hands on a Terran psi emitter. Surely they must have, to be able to so closely replicate and modify its design. It makes sense why they would wish to, though. The power and range of a psi emitter's call is ridiculous. It was able to pull the Zerg to Tarsonis, the heart of Confederate space, from all the way in deep space, and it was able to overpower even the psi disruptor's signal, allowing us to keep control of some of our nearby forces. If the Protoss could harness that kind of power and range for their own psionics, they might very well be unbeatable."

"Yes, well, that's nice and all," came Kerrigan's unexpected voice as she marched down the corridors towards us. "But I can sense the swarms of flying Zerg coming to assault us. Do you have a plan or not?"

"Kerrigan!" I smiled. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you sensed a little danger and immediately gave up on resting. But not to worry, if this works, we'll be perfectly safe."

So saying, I turned to the device, and moved to face the crystal-lined tube. "Here goes," I whispered, and then I reached out with my mind the way I normally did when trying to take control of feral zerg. Though I usually could not sense feral zerg at any significant distance away from me, now I found I could clearly sense all of Amon's zerg around the planet. I moved to take control of them, engulfing their minds with my overmind control signal.

I met resistance. A dark cloudy signal refused to recede before my power. Amon.

My face scrunched up in concentration, I mentally poked and prodded at his control, looking for an opening, but he bunkered down without a chink in his armor and occasionally sent a spear of stabbing pain into my psionic presence, forcing me back.

"Whatever you're doing is working," Kerrigan said, looking at me with an expression of pleasant surprise. "I sense that the assaulting zerg have stopped their advance. They're just floating listlessly in the atmosphere."

I drew back and stopping fighting with Amon.

"Now they're stirring again, flying towards us aggressively."

I frowned, and threw myself into wrestling with Amon once more. "Amon's hold over them is too strong," I announced. "I'll keep them incapacitated as long as I can. Send in our forces. Destroy the hybrid. Weaken Amon's control."

My attention focused on the mental swordfight between myself and Amon, I was only dimly aware of the actions of my own forces, as Kerrigan deployed the Swarm to hunt and destroy nearby hybrid. Without the assistance of their zerg, it proved easy to overwhelm them. Hybrid were strong, but not "defeat hundreds of zerglings, hydralisks, and mutalisks attacking at once" strong, and with every slain hybrid my task grew easier as I felt Amon's influence weaken.

Finally, Amon's grip grew weak enough that when I thrust my tired soul into the minds of the Zerg one final time, Amon's presence shattered before me, and, as though a dam collapsed, my own psionic presence rushed in like a flood to fill the minds of Amon's brood. I returned to myself, then, and I could sense it. Amon's brood on Endion belonged to the Swarm once again.


	52. Lock & Load

"Finding that psi amplifier was convenient," Kerrigan remarked as the Leviathan and thousands of newly reclaimed zerg fliers, including overlords filled with minions, warped to rendezvous with Artanis.

"Yes," I replied, examining the device as it lay on the Leviathan's fleshy ground. "But then, finding the psi emitters was convenient for Mengsk, and finding the psi disruptor was convenient for the UED. Guess it was our turn."

I reached out with my mind through the amplifier and sensed Artanis' forces rapidly approaching. "We're here," I announced, and the Leviathan dropped out of warp speed immediately after.

"Impressive," Kerrigan commented, walking up to the psi amplifier's cylinder. She cocked her head. "I sense a fleet of Tal'Darim arranged around Artanis' arkship. It seems Alarak successfully took control of them away from Amon."

I nodded, stood up, and began walking towards the head of the Leviathan. "Let's go see what other errands we have to run before we can engage Amon directly."

…

As it turned out, there were precisely two errands left. With the Tal'Darim joining the Daelaam and most of Amon's brood not on Aiur reassimilated into the Swarm, the only remaining threat, besides the "Golden Armada" of the corrupted Protoss, was Moebius Corps. Vorazun's scouts reported the discovery of their last major stronghold at the asteroid field "Revanscar." Also, Moebius had launched an attack on our garrison at Ulnar, attempting to retake the space station, and, by Rohana's report, destroy it. If Amon thought Ulnar still housed something worth destroying, then we could not allow him to succeed. Artanis and I decided that he would take the combined Protoss forces and go to Revanscar, while I would take the combined Zerg forces and go to Ulnar.

The robotic Fenix asked after the Purifiers once we had finished discussing our next move, still wishing to wake them from the space station above Endion. However, in the course of discussing the possibility and sharing what I had done during my visit to Endion, Karax sheepishly brought an important fact to our attention: "Hierarch, I am afraid waking the Purifiers may not be possible now. Or at least not in a timely enough fashion for them to aid us in our war against Amon."

"Explain yourself, Karax," Artanis replied, brow furrowed.

"Magis described activating a Protoss machine called a megalith to distract the zerg, who eventually destroyed it. The purpose of the megalith was to deactivate the stasis locks, enabling access to the Purifier space station. Without it, the stasis locks cannot be deactivated, and the Purifier space station cannot be boarded. We will have to construct a new megalith to awaken the Purifiers, and we lack the time to do so."

Fenix made a low angry rumbling sound. "That is disappointing news. I suppose Magis could not have known what he wrought, but without the aid of the Purifiers, the upcoming battles will prove far more difficult."

I nodded. "I apologize, Fenix, but I do believe the aid of the Zerg, including the Zerg that sacrificing the megalith enabled me to reclaim, will prove more useful in the end."

"We shall see," Fenix said sadly.

"That does at least simplify matters," Artanis said, holding his head high. "We know what we must do for the next stage of our campaign against Amon. May Adun be with us."

…

I warped to Ulnar more courageously this time. When I arrived, the garrison I had left in Ulnar quickly appraised me of the situation. The enormous antechamber of Ulnar contained five "celestial locks." The locks contained a massive amount of energy, energy that Artanis and Kerrigan had utilized to unlock and enter the central chambers of Ulnar. Now, Moebius sought to overload the locks, to unleash the energy in a catastrophic chain reaction that would destroy the station.

Well, we could not have that. Kerrigan, Dehaka, Stukov, Zagara, an Abathur, and I all went down to our garrison and reinforced it. With six commanders cooperating, we quickly morphed enough minions to start recapturing the locks. The first three locks, closest to our position, were easy to invade and secure. Moebius had not held them long enough to substantially fortify their defenses, and Kerrigan and the rest of our forces easily punched through what defenses they had.

But even one lock held enough energy to destroy the station. Taking away the first three just bought us time. The last two locks would prove more difficult to capture, guarded as they were by multiple hybrid. While we built up our forces, Amon's hybrid sent multiple assault waves attempting to retake the three locks we now held. They cleverly coordinated the waves to hit multiple locks at once, forcing us to split our forces. At one point a collection of Moebius starships destroyed our defenses at one of the locks, as the defenses were made chiefly of grounded units like lurkers. But once Kerrigan and Zagara returned to reinforce the lock with hydralisks and scourge in tow, those starships were swiftly destroyed and the locks retaken.

Finally, I felt we had brought sufficient forces to bear, and we invaded the last two locks, one after the other. Many Zerg died in the assault, despite my mending and our queen's transfusions. But even a dozen hybrid could not stop the swarm's tidal wave of claws and fury, spearheaded as it was by the psionic demigod Kerrigan, the incredibly evolved Dehaka, Stukov's monstrous apocalisk, and Abathur's symbioted brutalisks.

When the bloody battle finished, the last lock recaptured and the overloading procedure halted, the remaining Moebius forces began withdrawing to their transports, seeking to flee to fight another day. I ordered my forces to pursue them. Now that we could afford the time to infest rather than kill, I wanted to capture as many Moebius members alive as I could. I wanted to learn how Amon had achieved such control over the minds of Terrans, even after the death of Narud.

Finally, all of Moebius Corps was dead, captured, or fled. I ordered Zagara and a few Abathurs to remain on the station with a still more sizable garrison to try to find whatever it was that Amon had thought worth risking an army to destroy. Meanwhile, the rest of us boarded the Leviathan and warped away from Ulnar once more.

When we reached Artanis' forces at Revanscar, we quickly found that they had not yet completed their own mission, and in fact, the Spear of Adun was currently being bombarded by dozens of Moebius battlecruisers. Using the psionic amplifier, I quickly sensed that much of Artanis' ground forces were occupied fighting off boarding parties in their enormous arkship, while much of their fleet was occupied counterattacking Moebius' space station base.

"Launch our fleets immediately. Defend the Protoss arkship!" I ordered. Briefly, I wondered whether I was making a mistake. You cannot be a master strategist without considering every option available to you, and this might be the best opportunity I'd ever get to betray the Protoss. But no, I pushed that dark thought to the back of my mind. They'd given me no reason so far to think we couldn't coexist, and their help would still be valuable in the upcoming fight against Amon on Aiur.

So, staying at the psionic amplifier, I threw myself into managing the dogfights that commenced as mutalisks and scourge rushed at battlecruisers and various starfighters. Moebius was clearly unprepared for an attack on the rear, and much of their fleet fell before they realized their dire situation and warped away.

"Excellent timing, Magis," Artanis psionically broadcast. "Karax, the Moebius Corps battlecruisers are warping away!

"Yes, I believe I have found them," Karax responded, and indeed, I sensed Moebius' remaining fleet arranging themselves in a defensive formation around the Protoss carriers attacking the space station. "It is no matter," Karax said confidently, "We will not be deterred."

Indeed, looking at the numbers involved, it seemed clear the Protoss fleet could handle itself. So I set about regathering my fleets and drawing the Leviathan up next to the damaged Spear of Adun.

Soon, Karax psionically hailed us once more. "The final power core has been destroyed. We must strike now! Hierarch, is the Spear of Adun secure?"

"Yes, we have repelled the invaders," Artanis replied. "Our weapons are yours to command."

"It was my honor to serve," Karax answered. "Fire!"

I was taken back by the authority with which Karax was speaking. Wasn't he a lowly engineer?

Energy quickly built up within the Spear of Adun, and soon an enormous barrage of Protoss energy weapons launched screaming from the arkship to slam into the Moebius station, quickly annihilating it.

When the Protoss cannons quieted and the carriers had rejoined the arkship, Artanis broadcast a general psionic message, clearly intended to be heard by all the Protoss and Zerg around. "Amon's hybrid facility lies in ruin!" he proclaimed triumphantly. "His hybrid armies are shattered!" His voice turned more solemn. "And yet, for the briefest of moments, we lingered on cusp of ruin. The Protoss have endured much these past few years. Traditions that we have proudly kept since the time of Adun have been discarded in order to ensure our survival in these dark times. It began with the acceptance of the Nerazim as equals after a millennium of hatred and rejection. The enlightened Tassadar saw the wisdom in letting our society evolve to meet our changing needs, where the stubborn Conclave could not, and as a result, the Overmind was destroyed. Now, we have lost the Khala and we have allied ourselves with Zerg and Tal'Darim, and have grown stronger for it! In the midst of darkness, I have seen a light... I have seen defiant hope. Karax of the Khalai, you were born a craftsman from a caste of engineers. But today, you proved yourself a warrior. Today, it has become clear that the Protoss must change still more: the age of caste has come to its end. Today, we all become Templar!"

Artanis' speech was met with cheers by some and excited murmuring by others. As for me, the structure of Protoss society was not particularly concerning, but it was encouraging that Artanis was willing to let go of traditional beliefs in response to new evidence. If only the Terrans were as open-minded.

Suddenly, a dark voice shouted psionically. It took me only a second, connected to the amplifier as I was, to pinpoint its source: Rohanna, deep within the Protoss arkship, now possessed by Amon. "You strive to maintain this flawed existence!" Amon said loudly, his menacing voice dripping with disdain. "But you will not stop me!"

Artanis' eyes narrowed. "Amon... I have destroyed your Terran army, eradicated your hybrid facility, and turned your servants to my side. All that is left is your destruction!"

"Impudent speck!" Amon screamed. "You are insignificant in the face of the salvation I bring! You will come to Aiur and die."

There was a pause, and I sensed his presence abandon Rohanna.

"He… is gone," Rohanna announced haltingly. Then, abruptly, her eyes smiled. "He is so arrogant! Just as he could look into me, so I have looked into him. I know his plans. His form is almost complete, and he holds the Great Fleet ready to warp down upon us the moment we are too committed on Aiur to escape. But…" Rohanna hesitated, before spilling out the rest in a rush, "We have to eliminate the sacred psi matrix that powers Aiur, or we are all doomed!"

I sensed much murmuring amongst the Protoss forces at that news. The "sacred psi matrix" must be important to them.

Artanis sighed. "If he intends to use the Golden Armada to stop us from destroying his body, then you are right. Destroying the psi matrix is essential to buying us the time we need." Artanis drew himself up proudly. "We survived losing Aiur! We survived losing the Khala! We will survive losing the psi matrix too!" The psionic cheering communicating that public opinion was on his side, he turned to the preserver. "Rohanna, it seems this connection of yours has proved worthwhile, but we cannot risk Amon learning our plans. It is time to free yourself from Amon. Sever yourself from the Khala!"

Rohana's eyes widened. "I would relinquish all that I know…" she whispered pleadingly.

"It is the only way," Artanis replied firmly. "Unshackle yourself from the past, Rohana, and step into this new age side by side with your brothers and sisters!"

Rohana took a deep breath, feeling the psionic presence of her audience, knowing she could not refuse in front of so many who had already given up the Khala. "For the Daelaam!" she cried, igniting a psi-blade and cutting off her nerve cords.

Artanis nodded, satisfied. "It is time for retribution," he proclaimed. "We will set a course for Aiur!"

While the rest of the Daelaam cheered, I made out Alarak's sardonic voice in the crowd. "Finally? Well, this is truly a miracle."

For my part, I pitied Rohanna, and all these Protoss who had lost the Khala, their homeworld, their culture. It reminded me of how I felt after being uninfested, or after the Overmind died. Losing the hivemind, the connections, the sense of purpose. Seemed like an enormous step backward to me. But maybe Artanis and the rest of the Protoss leadership would be able to recast the experience into something positive for the Protoss race. Time would tell.

If, that is, we could defeat Amon.


	53. The Host

When we reached Aiur, Artanis informed us as to the locations of the key components of the psi matrix, and we quickly divided them up between us. When I asked him how he intended to handle the Golden Armada when they finally warped in the slow way, he proposed unleashing the energy of the keystone to remove Amon from the Khala long enough to allow the corrupted Protoss to sever their nerve cords. We all supported the plan except Alarak, who of course wanted to simply destroy the corrupted Protoss, but we all overruled him. "We'll do that if we have to, Alarak," I replied consolingly when Artanis finished his angry protestation, "But if we can take every corrupted Protoss away from Amon without risking any of our forces, that would be the sounder tactic."

"And the ones still on Aiur, guarding the psi matrix? We will have to fight through them one way or another. You would have us risk ourselves when we could simply eradicate them from orbit? It is folly!"

"The deaths of some of the khalai will be unavoidable," Artanis conceded angrily. "But an orbital bombardment will destroy far more than necessary. In addition to the lives of our comrades, we would sacrifice the Citadel of the Executor, the great Xel'Naga temple, and the Xel'Naga Caverns, the ancient sites in which the psi matrix power structures were constructed. I will not destroy Aiur in our efforts to save it!"

I hesitated, glancing over our scouting data on those sites. Amon's defenses were not negligible.

"I only council wisdom," Alarak said matter-of-factly. "If you do not wish to hear it, I will say no more."

"Artanis," I began placatingly, "I think we should consider Alarak's plan."

"What? You too, Magis? Perhaps you do not value Protoss lives as..."

"It's not that," I interrupted. "No one is asking you to destroy all of Aiur. I've seen your orbital bombardments, they can be quite precise. If we nuke the sites from orbit, we will only destroy Khalai we would have to kill anyway in order to safely take down the power structures. The only thing we would be destroying that we could otherwise save are those historical sites you mentioned, but you've already discarded so much of your heritage for the sake of safeguarding your people's future. What's losing a few dusty old structures compared to losing your whole caste system and your khala?"

Artanis scowled, and looked around at the other Protoss leaders. "And the rest of you, what do you think?"

Unsurprisingly, Rohanna staunchly argued for preserving the sites of Protoss heritage. "I can no longer tell you of the joy the Protoss felt as the first pulse charged the psi matrix, of the wonder felt by the explorers of the Xel'Naga caverns. Without the Khala to preserve memories… all we have left are these sites! We cannot so brazenly discard them!"

More surprisingly, the other Protoss leaders hesitatingly agreed with my plan.

"Fenix has fond memories of the Citadel," began the robotic Protoss. "I would look forward to seeing the place he so loved… but the memories are from an older world, a world that is no more. If we must raze the citadel, we will build a better world on its ashes!"

"Many of my people are seeing Aiur for the first time," Vorazun added. "It is a wonderful thing to see the homeland, but much of its history is the history of the Old Conclave, not the new united Daelaam. I would sooner sacrifice a citadel than the life of one of my templar."

Artanis sighed. "I see. Perhaps it is better for our histories to be viewed through the lens of our present needs, that a new history might be secured. We will not fail to honor the firstborn who devoted their lives to the old system… but well have we learned that sometimes traditions must be discarded. Very well. I give the order: bombard the sites! Destroy the psi matrix!

"As you command, hierarch," Karax answered simply, his hands already on the controls.

I turned my attention away from the screen to look instead out the Leviathan's eyes. I watched as streaks of blue and gold fire fell screaming from the Spear of Adun, crashing violently into three distinct locations around Aiur.

It was a sobering moment, one of great symbolic significance. The Protoss really were changing. The Terrans prided themselves on their adaptability, and yet I doubted many would be willing to give up as much as the Protoss had. Oh, historical sites were probably less significant to them, but they cared an awful lot about their traditional Terran bodies, even when better Zerg bodies were on offer. It's true what Dehaka says. You have to evolve to live. To stop changing is to stagnate and die. That doesn't mean disrespecting what came before… but it does mean sacrificing it when something better comes along. And if the Protoss can now understand that basic principle of evolution… perhaps there will be room for Zerg and Protoss to coexist long after Amon's defeat.

Finally, the barrage ended. "It is done," Rohanna announced tearfully. "The Citadel of the Executor, and parts of Antioch, have been reduced to rubble. The Ancient Temple grounds lie in ruins, and the Xel'Naga Caverns have collapsed. Countless Zerg and many corrupted Khalai fell beneath our onslaught, and so did the psi matrix power structures. Now, Amon will not be able to warp the Golden Armada to Aiur in time to defend himself."

Artanis nodded. "We must destroy his host body before it fully awakens. For the sake of our people, we cannot falter."

Suddenly, the lights dimmed. The bioluminescence on board the Leviathan, the crystal lighting on the Spear of Adun, even the very stars themselves, all their light was obstructed by a mass of ambient void energy so large and powerful even I could sense it, like the electricity in the air just before lightning strikes.

And then the Dark God Amon spoke to us. "Your actions have not eluded my gaze," it declared with the reverberating voice of an angry deity. "Your plans are not hidden from me." It paused. "And you... are too late. Behold, the form of your god!" An image was suddenly forced into my brain, an image of an enormous hybrid with skin as black as the void. It's power… I felt as though this hybrid could leap up and swat the Leviathan out of the sky like an overgrown housefly. And its face… if ever I had beheld an incarnation of pure malice, pure _evil_ , this was it. "The culmination of a cycle set into motion when the stars were born," the dark voice continued. "As I was your beginning - so shall I be your end. Protoss, Zerg, know the truth: your beliefs, your hivemind, your khala... everything is a lie. There is nothing left of you. "

"There is plenty left of us!" I retorted angrily at the foolish deity that wanted me to believe it was almighty. "We have each other. We have our weapons, we have our motivation, we have our breath! We need nothing more to destroy you!"

At the same time, I dimly heard Artanis reply from his own ship. "You are wrong. We are finally free to become something more, and you will not stop us. Brace yourself for the full might of the Firstborn and the Secondborn!"

And then, as if to prove his fearfulness, Amon's presence receded, and the lights brightened once more.

"Stooping to throwing us empty threats." I shook my head. "He wants us to believe he's omnipotent… but all these performances tell me is that he is a freaking cartoon character! He has no understanding of his creations. Unless he follows these words with an immediate assault on our ships, all this display shows is that he's frightened, which will embolden us, not dissuade us! Foolish god. We will destroy that evil host, I promise you that." I scoffed, then turned my attention back to the screen. "Where is Amon's host body? Let's glass that thing from orbit!"

"It has been constructed on top of the Overmind's carcass," Artanis answered. "The abomination is made of that monster… and the flesh of my brethren."

"Indeed, hierarch," Karax inserted himself into the conversation. "But we will not be able to bombard it from orbit. Sensors indicate his form in consuming void energies at an alarming rate. So long as the void energy remains in and around him, even our most powerful weaponry will have no effect upon Amon."

"Then we must cut off his connection to the void," I replied. "But I don't understand anything about how the void works. What must we do?"

"Look, these shards…" Rohanna began, pointing at a map of the area around the hybrid which she had called on screen. As I looked at where she indicated, I saw several massive pillars of black stone crackling with red lightning. "They generate Void energy and drain life around them to feed his host body," Rohanna explained. "They must be destroyed."

"Well then, can we bombard _those_ from orbit?" I asked.

"It will not be very effective," Karax answered. "The area around the shards… it's as though he is turning the land and air into the Void! Everything has been destabilized, and few of our shots will reach the destination."

I sighed. "A ground invasion, then."

"That'll be difficult - look!" Kerrigan spoke up, pointing at the map. Little red signals representing enemy units were popping up all over the place. "It seems Amon is shaping the void energy into defensive forces and fortifications."

I groaned. "Now the void can create, not just destroy? Is there anything this 'void' can't do?"

"There's a reason Dark Templar culture honors the void," Vorazun replied, amused. "To those that master it, it is a force as strong and flexible as gravity."

"We are running out of time," Artanis interrupted. On the communications screen I thought I could just barely make out a bored Alarak nodding his head dramatically in response. "Warriors, ready your blades," Artanis commanded. "We fight for the future of Aiur!"

I nodded. "The strategy for this one is simple. Find any open area to land our respective forces and rush in and destroy these void shards!"

We quickly coordinated our respective landing positions, then warped over Amon's body and began deploying troops. We had the host surrounded. Artanis and the Khalai swiftly established a base in the nearly undefended southeast, and then set about helping Vorazun and the Dark Templar in the east and Alarak and the Tal'Darim in the south. Meanwhile, I launched a hundred droppods to clear out an area to the northwest, then set about helping Stukov establish a base to the north and Dehaka land his pack in the west.

With the Void shards completely surrounded, Amon's void forces were stretched thin. We began by sending in small probing forces, testing Amon's defenses while we continued deploying, morphing, and warping reinforcements. When we were confident we knew the weak points in Amon's defenses, we bided our time until everyone was ready. For some reason, Alarak and Vorazun were eager to send in small groups of their own forces without backup, but Artanis and I were able to convince them to wait for the opportune time to strike. Finally, Artanis gave the order. "Templar and allies of the Templar, strike with great fury!"

"Amon's downfall is at hand…" Alarak announced gleefully. "Tal'darim, your highlord demands the Dark God's blood! Do not disappoint me!"

Vorazun shouted, "The blades of Shakuras descend upon the Dark God!"

Dehaka bellowed a primal roar and then declared, "They are dust! We are the wind! I go to destroy!"

Stukov spoke up. "The enemy requires more infestation."

Kerrigan certainly was not about to be left out. Leading the charge from the northwest, she screamed, "Amon, now at last you will know my wrath!"

I smiled as I took my place on the ground besides Kerrigan. "Let's get 'em." I said simply.

Innumerable Khalai, Nerazim, Tal'Darim, Swarm, Primals, and Infested streamed into Amon's defenses from all directions. The void forces had taken the forms of familiar units for whatever reason, of marines and zerglings and zealots, of thors and battlecruisers and mutalisks and ultralisks and colossi and carriers. What was more, the ambient Void energy was clearly toxic to our living forces, slowly damaging zerg and protoss cells alike. Nevertheless, our forces crashed into them like a tidal wave. Our fleets flew overheard as our armies pushed forward on the ground, all the while accompanied by some of the most powerful heroes the Koprulu sector had ever seen. Even with all that, we still lost hundreds of supplies' worth of forces apiece, as Amon's void entities held their ground until the last. It took up nearly all my concentration trying to keep my forces healed despite the void energy stabbing at us with every step. I quickly lost track of how long we fought there. It could have been minutes or it could have been hours - when six seconds is the difference between life or death, time feels distorted. Finally, the solid dark pillars of void energy were too heavily damaged to sustain themselves, and they began to violently explode into gaseous void energy and dissipate.

One. Two. Three. Four. Aaaand… five! The last one fell to the Protoss, the void energy receded, and I quickly shot out a telepathic command. "Now! Bombard the host with everything you have!"

Just then, as I looked towards the host body standing over the Overmind's carcass, I realized with horror that it had become animate, detaching itself from its construction scaffolding. It brought its hands together. "DIE" it screamed with the all the hatred of a losing god. Red void energy shot out of its hands in a beam of utter destruction, instantly annihilating Artanis' base and then my own, simply by pointing its hands at them. There was absolutely 100% no way we would be able to beat this thing conventionally. It would slaughter every army we threw at it.

"All vessels, fire your weapons now!" Artanis commanded, fearful but determined. "Templar, unleash your fury!"

The Spear of Adun's blue and orange hailfire, the Tal'Darim motherships' red crackling lightning strikes, the Leviathan's balls of acid spit, the Alexander's laser batteries, everything we had plummeted to Aiur and crashed into that enormous host hybrid with dizzying force. Its beam ceased, but I could still sense it screaming under the weight of our bombardment. "Don't let up!" I shouted. "Do not give it a second of peace!" We kept up our barrage for over ten minutes, filling the sky with our armament, until finally we all sensed it: the host's exoskeleton was pierced, chunks of flesh exploded away from it, and the thing succumbed to its wounds. It rose up and evaporated like all other hybrid, in the process unleashing an enormous explosion of void energy that flowed high into the atmosphere before finally dissipating.

When the bombing stopped and everything finally returned to an eerie silence, I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding. Amon had been defeated. We had won.

Now all that remained was removing him from the Khala.


	54. The Path of the Warrior

Karax and Abathur still had some work to do to ready the Keystone for our plan. I still did not understand how they managed to interact with the thing at all. It's not as though it had a user interface. But I remembered the old Earth proverb: never look a gift alien artifact in the mouth. Okay, I knew that wasn't actually the saying and the artifact didn't actually have a mouth, but it's not like anyone in the Koprulu sector had ever ridden an Earth horse. Sometimes proverbs need updating. In any case, Abathur assured me he would have the Keystone ready to begin charging itself with the energy necessary to emit a void-dissipating pulse within the hour.

I guessed that Artanis was spending that time conversing with his advisors, commiserating with Rohanna about the loss of history, foreseeing with Vorazun the loss of Dark Templar traditions, chatting with Alarak about their mutual reluctant respect for one another, and so on. I decided to similarly chat with my own advisors. With Warfield and Zagara guarding Char and Ulnar and Nova missing, there were three remaining: Stukov, Dehaka, and Kerrigan. Well, there were also the Abathurs, but they weren't much for idle conversation. Still, there was one thing I wanted to ask them before I moved on to the others.

"Abathur," I quickly broadcast a telepathic message. "Question: how many of you remain? I know we've lost a lot of the original one thousand or so over the years."

"Approximately 220 remain," an Abathur answered quickly. "Exactly 87 Abathurs work with current Zerg forces on Leviathan."

"Is that enough?" I inquired.

"Quantity more than sufficient," Abathur answered. "One Abathur can evolve Swarm alone. Numerous Abathurs create numerous ideas, disagree, conflict difficult to resolve. Numerical advantage slight aside from speedier infestation. Regardless, work continues. Carapace upgrade in progress."

"I see," I responded. "Good to know. Thank you for the update." I ended the telepathic connection and made my way towards the Leviathan's bridge, thinking. I doubted that having so many evolution masters could present as little an advantage as that Abathur would have me believe. But it did seem like the Swarm's evolution had been slowing lately. Perhaps the Abathurs had had some internal conflict. Eventually I might have to figure out a way to get them to evolve themselves past their overly demanding egos. But that was a problem for a much later time.

For now, I reached the bridge and I contacted Stukov's infested battlecruiser. "Stukov, my friend," I began my next conversation, "We have come a long way together."

"Indeed we have, Cerebrate. Or should I, too, call you Magis now?" came Stukov's response as his face appeared onscreen with the bridge of the Aleksander in the background.

I nodded. "Yes, I believe our relationship has passed the point of titles and reached the point of nicknames"

Stukov chuckled. "I swear, if you start calling me 'Stu' I will abandon you to Amon."

I smiled. "No fear of that, Stukov. Besides, you're still part of the hivemind. You cannot refuse me."

Stukov grimaced, but composed his face quickly. "Yes, though more than that, it is clear that if you and Kerrigan fell in battle, Amon's influence would take control of me along with the rest of the Swarm. So my threats are empty."

I frowned. "That's true. I promised you once that we would infest you properly, didn't I? So that you could have wings and an exoskeleton like me and Kerrigan? It is a shame you were not with us when Abathur unlocked the secrets of primal infestation on Zerus. When this war is over, we will give you the gift of primal infestation as well, you have my word. Then you need not fear such influence, even in the event of the deaths of myself and Kerrigan."

Stukov smiled slightly, but there was a glimmer of hesitation in his eye. "I have grown used to my pockmarked human skin and enormous infested arm. I dwell in a sort of intermediate state between the human I once was and the truly alien Swarm. To become more fully zerg, as you and Kerrigan are… the prospect both excites and frightens me. I must confess… I miss Earth. And further infestation feels like further abandonment of my home… my family."

 _Right, Stukov must have had a much happier home life than myself, Kerrigan, or Nova. He still has his attachments to humanity, though he's set them aside as futile. Hmm… how to handle this?_ Thinking carefully, I replied, "At this point, the best thing you can do for your home and your family is remember them. You can treasure them in your heart as a Zerg, I know you can, and what is more, when you have the protections of a fully zerg body, you will be able to treasure them for eternity. They will never be forgotten so long as you live, and that is a greater honor than anything possessed by many long dead kings, who are lucky to be mentioned once as an aside in someone else's story. Infestation is not an abandonment of humanity. It is an immortalizing of it."

Stukov's smile grew wider. "I know of your philosophy concerning infestation, and I confess I have seen the benefits of it myself, which I would never have expected when I was the vice admiral of the UED fleet. I will think on your words. For now, time grows short, and I must return to preparing my forces."

I nodded. "Of course. You serve the Swarm admirably, Stukov. We will speak more when the dust settles."

"Dosvedanya," Stukov answered in his mother tongue. I was only dimly aware of the change in language, as the hivemind easily translated words into comprehensible thoughts, but it did serve as proof that despite all that had changed for him, Stukov was still a patriot at heart.

I next turned my attention to Dehaka. His pack had adopted another, smaller Leviathan as their territory.

"This war has treated you well," I commented after pulling up Dehaka on the Leviathan's fleshy messaging screen. The primal zerg now stood at least three times taller than when I had first met him, and his hardened body was built like a tank.

Dehaka growled. "Much essence. I am grateful."

I nodded. "Have you given any thought to what you will do when this war is over, Dehaka? The Swarm does not intend to fight the Protoss afterwards, and maybe not even the Terrans. Would you stay with us, help us build a better Koprulu sector?"

Dehaka shook his mighty head. "Stagnation is death. I have taken essence from your swarm, from Terrans, from Protoss. Soon, this territory will offer little to my pack. We will leave sector, seek new essence. Continue evolution."

I frowned. It was good that he wouldn't be my problem for a long time, in that case. But now I had eternity to think about. "And when you've taken all the essence you wish from the entire galaxy?"

Dehaka chuckled roughly. "Then I suppose I shall move on to a new galaxy."

I cocked my head at that. Even at the fastest speeds known, warping to Andromeda would take centuries. "Dedicated, are you? So your plan is to just keep evolving forever? Assimilating essence wherever you can find it, for all time? Won't you eventually reach the point where there is no essence anywhere that can make you stronger? Somewhere along the way, you'll become a god."

Dehaka growled thoughtfully. "Doubtful. Successful adaptation changes with circumstances. Evolution's goal, can pursue, cannot attain. But if I am strongest creature, then, like Zurvan, I will rest. I will wait. Challenge will come."

"And when it doesn't?" I pressed. "When you've become not just the strongest creature in existence, but the strongest creature that can possibly exist in our reality? When one swipe of your claw could destroy a planet, what will you do?"

Dehaka chuckled throatily. "Then I will live. I will survive. More than that, I cannot say. But that is dream of newly hatched. The wise know, change continues always. Evolution endless."

I barked out an amazed laugh. "Well, we'll have to get back together a couple billion years from now and see if your opinion on that has changed. But I have to say, Dehaka, I think you should start asking yourself if your goal really should be just to live and survive, come what may, or if you should adopt a new goal, one which surviving will help you obtain, but is more than merely surviving against adversity. Something to think about during the next few millenia, at least."

Dehaka gave an amused snort. "And what is your goal, leader of Swarm?"

I smiled. I could not recall Dehaka ever exhibiting anything approaching intellectual curiosity before, and it gratified me to hear him ask even this small question. "Eternal happiness," I answered wistfully. "Endless bliss. Life happily ever after. Every religion promises it. The Zerg can deliver it. That is what I fight for."

Dehaka growled thoughtfully. "No power can grant that. Adversity makes us what we are. It cannot be forsaken. That is what Dehaka, leader of primal zerg, believes. But… we shall see who is right in the ages to come. For now, I must prepare my pack. The one who would cease all change, all evolution… must be destroyed."

I nodded. "Of course. I will talk to you later, then." I ended the video call, and then telepathically contacted the Abathur on the Spear of Adun, who informed me he still needed a couple minutes to finish preparing the artifact. I then took a deep breath, pausing a moment as I stood in the head of the Leviathan. Only Kerrigan remained. I had not had the opportunity to chat with her at any length since the war against Amon began, and her intensity usually made her a… taxing person to talk to. I took some time to gather my wits. Then I marched down the Leviathan's winding fleshy corridors in search of the infested telepath.

…

I quickly found her in the evolution chamber, speaking with an Abathur. Upon noticing me, Kerrigan broke off her conversation and strode over to me. "Magis," she began, frowning, "The Abathurs wish to take some guards and investigate the battlefield. Amon's host almost certainly evaporated completely, like all hybrid, but it is possible that some part of the Overmind's carcass survived both Amon's harvest of its flesh and our orbital bombardment. The Abathurs already collected some of the biomass from the UED's pet Overmind, after we killed it, for the sake of understanding its special sequences. But that was an approximation of an Overmind based on the genetic understanding of Daggoth and the other cerebrates. The Abathurs think we could learn something from the sequences of the original Overmind. Personally, I don't think we can afford the distraction." She looked to me then, implicitly seeking my advice.

I hmmed. "We wouldn't have to commit much to the search, and a piece of the Overmind might be useful. I admit I'm curious myself as to how a mental entity became physical. Sure, send a couple Abathurs with a small escort to investigate the glassed battlefield. Instruct them to retreat immediately if they encounter any significant remnants of Amon's forces."

Kerrigan, frowned, nodded, and I overheard her telepathically communicate with the Abathurs. Then she sighed. "Do you feel it, too?" she asked me.

Confused, I furrowed my eyebrows. "Feel what?"

Kerrigan's expression turned mournful. "The… weight, I suppose, of the Overmind's absence. I've been ignoring it, but ever since we arrived at Aiur I've felt a lingering pull from that part of my soul that was formerly taken up by the Overmind's governing presence. Speaking so flippantly about that great creature's genetic sequences… it almost feels blasphemous."

I cocked my head. Now that she mentioned it, it did feel rather like I was standing in the graveyard of a great hero, discussing whether to rob the grave. It was the sort of quiet sensation I wouldn't have noticed if Kerrigan hadn't pointed it out. "Huh, you're right," I commented. "I feel that too." I smiled slightly. "What power he must have wielded to make us, his victims, still mourn him years after his death and after our complete deinfestation and primal reinfestation. It's the sort of lasting impact most tyrants can only dream of."

Kerrigan frowned. "It worries me. You know I never possessed extreme anger and bloodlust before the Overmind took us on Tarsonis. But I was a vicious creature when I first emerged from that chrysalis. I calmed down somewhat after the Overmind died, and our conversations have influenced me towards examining my rage more carefully. Still, I'm not completely back to normal. But I also don't know that I should be - after all, Mengsk betrayed us and killed Raynor, and Amon seeks to destroy everything we love. I have a right to be angry."

I paused, thinking through my response. "Well, it encourages me to hear that you're thinking carefully about the legitimacy of your own emotions. And you're right: you'll never go back to the person you were before the Overmind took us, but you shouldn't want to. We've lived through a lot since then, and it is good for our experiences to shape our behavior. Individuals evolve in response to changing circumstances just as species do. It doesn't really matter if it was the Overmind that first filled you with rage to make you into his weapon, or if your fury arose naturally from the wrongs done to you. What matters, I think, are the following two questions. First, should you let go of your anger? I have told you multiple times that I believe you should. Second, are you capable of letting go of your anger, or is the anger originating from a part of your soul still firmly in the Overmind's dead grasp?"

Kerrigan scowled. "I don't know. And you, do you not feel that the Overmind has corrupted you in the slightest?"

I paused thoughtfully, than shook my head. "No, I do not believe so. And I must point out that you avoided the question." I took a deep breath, bracing myself for a potential hostile response to what I was about to say. "I think you're scared of letting go of your anger, Kerrigan. It's been a constant companion for so long, you're not sure what would motivate you without it. So you're trying to convince yourself you cannot let go of your anger, that the Overmind built it into your nature, so you don't have to change. That's just an excuse. I know you, Kerr, and I believe in you. You can overcome the darker parts of your nature."

Kerrigan's brow furrowed in anger and her eyes flashed. Her mouth opened to retort, then closed again. Finally, she spoke softly. "We'll see. Right now my anger is justified. Let's annihilate Amon, then we can talk about the future."

I smiled. "Alright. But just remember: character growth has a way of sneaking up on you."

Kerrigan scoffed, but smiled slightly. "Oh, Magis, you think you're so wise."

"Aren't I?" I asked cheekily.

"Wiser than some," Kerrigan conceded. "But not as wise as you think you are."

"I just call it like I see it," I said, shrugging. "But I'm well aware I make mistakes." I turned to look out one of the Leviathan's transparent membranes that served as a window, staring down at Aiur. "I'm worried that infesting Nova was one such mistake. She disappeared during a mission on Korhal a while back, and I haven't heard from her since. I suspect she's defected to the Dominion."

Kerrigan frowned. "I was wondering why I hadn't sensed her with you since you joined me at Ulnar. I had assumed she was on some covert mission, but I see I shouldn't have been so trusting. I never did like that ghost. Once this is over, we'll have to retrieve her and infest her properly."

I shook my head. "I promised her if she didn't like the Zerg she could return to the Terrans. I will hear an explanation from her, though. I must have closure."

Kerrigan smiled slightly. "You ever think, Magis, that maybe it's not me who's too vindictive - it's you who's too soft? You have a tendency to trust people you shouldn't, if you haven't noticed. The Confederacy, Mengsk, Duran, and now Nova. Perhaps even Artanis will prove no different."

"You trusted them too, more or less," I scoffed lightly. "And it's not like you can go through life just not trusting people. We could never have come this far without the help of allies. I try to be selective, but some betrayal is inevitable. The only question is, how do you react when betrayal occurs? I say forgiveness is generally wiser than fury."

"And I am not so sure," Kerrigan answered. "Fury is more likely to stop anyone from betraying you again. Forgiveness tells them they can get away with hurting you or someone else a second time."

I shook my head. "You'd think so, but I find it's the opposite. Fury tells them you can't be befriended in the first place. It drives away allies, whom you need to survive in this universe. Forgiveness tells them you're safe to trust. Some may try to take advantage of that trust, but you can be smart about it. It's not as though I would trust Duran with a zerg operation again. And if I don't welcome Nova back with open arms, then I was wrong to say that we could ever be a family for her." I smiled, then. "Kerr, once Amon's dead, all you'll have left to decide is what version of yourself you want to spend eternity with. I think you'll be happier with a more peaceful version of yourself."

Kerrigan growled, then sighed. "We'll see, Magis. Between the Overmind's lingering influence and all the wrongs done to me, I am not sure peace is within reach for me. But I know your thoughts on the matter already, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we should prepare ourselves for the battle to come."

"I suppose you're right," I nodded solemnly.

…

"The Keystone is ready, Magis," Artanis informed me shortly thereafter. "Now we must simply guard it while it charges to its full power. I am about to address all the templar. I know not if you Zerg present orations before battle, but you may wish to have your own forces listen in."

I nodded. "I enjoy a rousing speech as much as the next man. The Zerg listen and stand ready to assist in the fight ahead."

I contacted the other Zerg leaders, and together we listened as Artanis began to passionately speak through an open channel.

"My brethren, hear me!" he pleaded. "For there is little time left. All that remains of our race, our civilization, are those that stand beside you now... and those corrupted on the surface below. Our kind once stood as stewards of a galaxy full of promise. In our pride and division, we failed that sacred change and fell to ruin. The Khala, designed to bring unity, ultimately only aided those divisions. Its hope was a lie. Today, that lie must come to its end, and with it, our prejudice and arrogance must become a thing of the past. For we now fight in the belief that our kind has not seen its end. That we Protoss can stand bound by a belief in unity. And that we Protoss will forge a great and mighty new civilization! Trust in each other in the fight ahead. Khalai, Nerazim, Tal'darim, and even Zerg: strike as one will! Let our last stand burn a memory so bright that we will be known throughout eternity!"

His people cheered. I focused my mental attention on Rohanna. With the aid of the psi amplifier, I picked up a quiet telepathic muttering from her. "The Khala's hope was not a lie," she grumbled. "It did unify the tribes and brought an end to the Aeon of Strife...the only division it aided was the division between those who chose the Khala and those who refused it." She sighed. "But perhaps that is enough. Perhaps… perhaps our race has matured enough to no longer need the Khala to avoid conflict. If we can trust each other even without the Khala… maybe we will not usher in a second Aeon of Strife..."

I agreed with her initial thoughts. The Khala was a kind of hivemind. The Terrans had had hundreds of thousands of years, on Earth and in the Koprulu sector, to learn how to stop fighting amongst themselves. They never did. Their "Aeon of Strife" was ongoing. The only thing that could permanently stop it, that could ensure peace amongst the Terrans, was infestation. Sharing a hivemind would ensure no Terran harmed another, for in so doing they would harm themselves. The Khala did the same for the Protoss. If all my infested Terrans became uninfested humans again, would they fight amongst themselves once more? Of course they would. Would the Protoss prove any different?

I paused. Well, actually, maybe they would be. The Protoss can live forever if they aren't killed. For millennia, at least, Protoss would survive who remembered this moment of unity, who cling to it even in the face of whatever political struggles emerge between Protoss factions thousands of years from now, and they will do all in their power to prevent it from descending into open warfare, instructing the young to remember and celebrate the time all Protoss came together to end the greatest threat the galaxy had ever faced. But when enough of those old Protoss die by whatever accident or murder, and Amon passes into myth… will Protoss civilization stand united, or descend into open warfare, like every Terran society before them?

Perhaps it would depend on whether they had a common enemy, or only one another to blame. Perhaps it would fall to the Zerg to provide that common enemy.

A problem for another time. Artanis' speech was both heartfelt and thought-provoking, but the time for battle had finally arrived once more.


	55. Salvation

There had been a debate whether to defend the charging artifact on the Spear of Adun where Amon's ground forces couldn't attack it, or defend it on Aiur where we could construct more fortifications. We had eventually agreed to defend it on the grounds of a Xel'Naga temple on Aiur. There, Amon's ground forces would be easily funneled through one of three entrances: north, west, or south (the eastern side of the temple was an impassible sheer cliff face). And there was ample space for the placement of photon cannons and spore crawlers on various raised platforms. And Amon would be forced to attack the Spear of Adun and the rest of our fleets to stop them from defending the keystone anyway - this way, even if he somehow managed to fell the arkship, he wouldn't automatically win.

We tried to cloak our approach as best we could, but the moment the Protoss shuttles ferrying the artifact and its guards landed at the temple, Amon's brood began to gather outside the temple grounds. The Protoss rushed to set up their defenses before Amon could attack, with Vorazun and the Nerazim holding the northern entrance, Karax and the Khalai securing the southern approach, Alarak and the Tal'Darim laying claim to the large western battle line, Rohanna and the Protoss fleet holding position over the temple, and Artanis and volunteers from the rest of the Protoss forces guarding the Keystone at the center of it all, waiting on standby to aid as needed.

The Zerg soon followed. Izsha and the Zerg fleet hovering in the atmosphere, Dehaka and the primal pack joining Alarak at the western entrance, Stukov and the infested supporting Vorazun to the north, Kerrigan and her portion of the Swarm defending the east with Karax, and myself and the remainder of the Swarm guarding the Keystone with Artanis, ready to reinforce any endangered areas.

"Remember to check your targets," I messaged Artanis, requesting he broadcast the instructions to his forces. "The Swarm's Zerg are colored purple. Amon's brood is colored red. We are color-coded for your convenience, so I do not want to see any friendly fire out there."

Artanis agreed, but Karax interjected, "What of the Golden Armada? Some of their starships may be difficult for the Zerg to distinguish from ours. Disabling the psi-matrix delayed their return but-"

I interrupted, "Amon's corruption emits a clear psychic signature. The Zerg will not confuse friend or foe, I assure you. But can your ships really warp that fast? I thought we'd bought ourselves enough time."

Artanis shook his head. "Some of our starships warp faster than others, so we can expect them to arrive in waves. But arrive they will." Artanis then expanded his telepathic signal to be audible to all his forces. "Amon will bring the full might of the Great Fleet to bear against us. Of that, there is no doubt. But we shall not break. We are the Daelaam, united as never before. En Taro Adun! En Taro Tassadar! En Taro Zeratul!"

I rolled my eyes, sensed Amon's brood stirring, and then smiled and spoke up myself, broadcasting my message to both Zerg and Protoss forces. "And we are the Swarm, embracing the glory that is our birthright! En Taro the multitudes who have died, Protoss and Zerg, to ensure the enduring survival of their evolved progeny! Fight well, comrades!"

At the conclusion of my little speech, half-sincere and half-parody-humor, Amon's ultralisks bellowed and his mutalisks screeched, and his forces launched their first attack.

It was clear the zerg forces streaming towards the temple were only a tiny fraction of Amon's forces, but it was what Amon had readily available in the area, and Amon didn't want to give us the chance to freely construct still more fortifications while he waited for reinforcements. Thus, though this wave of enemies proved a challenge, our combined forces dispatched them without significant losses.

We earned ourselves a few minutes respite as the keystone continued charging, and then Amon launched his next wave.

The bulk of his forces hit the northern entrance, but with the aid of Artanis and I, Vorazun and Stukov held the line.

Another minute. Another wave of enemies. On and on it went, Amon's onslaught never fully abating, as he thoroughly tested every entrance into the temple, trying desperately to destroy the keystone. When our ground fortifications clearly grew too much to handle, he started trying to bypass them with escorted overlords and nydus worms, but our fleets and orbital bombardments made short work of them. He began focusing his efforts on our fleets, sending all manner of flying Zerg units at the Spear of Adun. Our fleets held the line easily at first, but then the Golden Armada began to warp in. Motherships cloaked scourge and phoenixes escorted mutalisks, and Amon began to gain ground in the space battle.

There wasn't anything we could do about it from the ground, so we concentrated on continuing to exterminate the swarms of enemies Amon flung at us to keep us occupied. When one of his waves began to make progress, destroying key defenses, he would immediately send another massive force escorted by enormous hybrid to try to hammer that hole into a passageway. At the same time, he would send waves to other locations, or even send parts of the Golden Armada to fly in from the east or from one of the corners of the temple in order to keep our forces occupied and prevent us from reinforcing the troubled section. Throughout it all, Amon taunted us, broadcasting telepathic insults and declarations of the hopelessness of our task.

All in all, Amon showed impressive tactics, given what he had to work with. If he'd known we were going to this temple and had had more time to prepare, I'm sure this would have been much more difficult. And if he hadn't already lost so many of his followers at Slayne, Endion, and Ravenscrest, I'm sure this would have been much more difficult. But as it was, Amon had eight separate fully prepared armies to deal with, as well as two enormous fleets. He had his work cut out for him.

And even so, it was all we could do to hold our ground under Amon's constant barrage of attacks. But the fleets, which were taking the bulk of the attention of the Golden Armada, were faring far worse. The Protoss began to lose the ability to call down orbital strikes and other defenses from the Spear of Adun, even as us Zerg began to lose the ability to call down drop-pods of reinforcements from our Leviathans, as Amon's forces viciously and suicidally threw themselves at our capital ships to destroy our fleets at any cost.

I lost track of time in the intensity of battle, but it felt like hours passed this way. Finally, when the keystone was nearly fully charged, the last starships of our once mighty Armada warped away to avoid total destruction, and Amon's fleets could finally attack us unimpeded. They threw themselves at the artifact, caring nothing for our defenses, desperate to stop us.

But it was too late. Our ground fortifications held out and our fleets had bought us the time we needed. Abathur and Karax called out telepathically that the artifact, which I could now sense was full to brim with mysterious energies, was ready. We ordered our forces to fall back to the keystone and let the remaining possessed Protoss come to us, and then Artanis and I looked at each other.

"Care to do the honors, Artanis?" I asked, gesturing at the keystone.

"Together," he declared simply.

I nodded, and in unison we pressed our palms to the keystone and mentally willed its activation.

BOOM.

The blue energy nova I had become familiar with immediately exploded outward, a tidal wave rushing throughout the temple and far beyond. But this time the force was less physical and more psionic, sending my mind reeling even as my body remained standing upright. Then, the direction of the energy nova reversed, and the energy came back rushing into the keystone from all directions like a black hole sucking away a star. But what the keystone pulled in was not stellar matter, but void energy. Void energy, red and crackling, washed away from the possessed Protoss' nerve cords and into the keystone like driftwood caught in a hurricane. There was a dark screaming sound as the last of energy flew into the keystone, and then, abruptly, everything was quiet.

We all slowly came back to ourselves, and as I looked around I realized that the possessed Protoss, who had been fighting so hard to reach us and the keystone, were no longer possessed. They stood shaking their heads, their eyes glowing normal Protoss blue instead of Amon's red.

Artanis wasted no time. "Templar!" he shouted. "Rid yourselves of Amon! Sever your nerve cords!"

Suddenly, the keystone lifted high into the air and began emitting a dark red light, energy crackling like lightning around it. "No," Amon's voice declared. "We are one in the Khala!"

The formerly possessed Protoss looked around in fear and hesitated. A nearby female Protoss who had fought particularly viciously spoke up telepathically. "Without the Khala, what will we become?" she cried out, her voice tinged with despair.

Artanis looked directly at her. "Free," he answered."

"LIES!" Amon screamed from his prison. Red cracks were beginning to appear on the artifact.

"Believe," Artanis pleaded, as the formerly possessed Protoss looked mournfully at their nerve cords, their connection to the Khala, their hivemind.

Then, one by one, the Protoss took up their psi-blades and, screaming, cut straight through their nerve cords. As their appendages clattered lifelessly to the ground, I couldn't help but reflect on their courage. It must have been like intentionally putting out one's own eyes, and they must know they will feel blind without the Khala. And yet, better to be blind than a slave.

"En Taro Artanis!" screamed the female Protoss, lifting her psi-blade into the air as the last and most reluctant Protoss finally severed their nerve cords.

"NOOO!" Amon screamed in rage as the Keystone violently imploded, unleashing a torrent of void energy that exploded outward back towards the Protoss, but found no purchase there. The energy then rushed up into space, dissipating back into the void from whence it came.

I released the breath I didn't know I had been holding. I closed my eyes, exultant in our victory. That was it. The battle was won. I felt Amon's control over the remaining feral zerg slip away. The fallen Xel'Naga had been banished back to the Void and the Koprulu sector was safe for the infested once more.

...

The silence lasted for one long beautiful moment. But even the most beautiful moments pass. Soon, the Protoss around me fell to chattering, as the newly freed wished to hear the tale of our endeavors against Amon and those I had fought alongside hoped to find their loved ones among the newly freed. I removed myself from them and called for my Zerg. "Well done, my friends," I said proudly, opening a telepathic channel to all my allies connected to the hivemind. "The day is won. Let us leave the Protoss to celebrate their reclaimed homeworld and return home ourselves."

"Once again we stand victorious atop the broken bodies of our enemies," Kerrigan replied, smiling, but clearly exhausted, as Dehaka and Stukov murmured similar sentiments.

Artanis saw me walk away and sensed my psionic communication. Extracting himself from his conversation with the female Protoss, he marched over to me. With his long strides, he reached me quickly. "Magis," he said, catching my attention. "The Protoss will not soon forget what your Zerg have done this day. Whatever others might say, I do not believe we would have succeeded without you. Though we have been enemies, for as long as I live and as long as the Zerg continue to act with honor, I swear we shall be friends."

I felt Artanis extend a tentative psionic connection towards me the way a Terran might extend a hand. I looked up at him. The large Protoss wore an earnest expression. I nodded. "I would like nothing more," I answered. "The Zerg and the Protoss are both children of the Xel'Naga. Let us therefore be as brothers." I grasped his offered telepathic connection with my mind, and images and memories flowed readily between us. The gesture had all the significance of a Terran handshake, plus the vulnerability of exposing a part of your soul to another.

"En Taro Adun, Artanis," I said, breaking the connection after a moment. "Farewell."

"Embrace the glory that is your birthright, Magis," Artanis replied, nodding. "Until we meet again."

…

Months passed. Alarak and the Tal'Darim returned to the territory from which they came, refusing to ally permanently with the rest of the Protoss. Still, it seemed they, too, had no plans for more war for the foreseeable future. The rest of the surviving Protoss gathered on Aiur and set about rebuilding their once-mighty civilization, but without the Khala, the caste divisions, or any of the old traditions. They forged a new path for themselves, and I was optimistic that that path would be good for both them and the infested for a long time to come.

Meanwhile, the Zerg returned to Char, and we set about replenishing our forces and taking back some of the territory that had been lost to Amon, reclaiming feral zerg wherever we found them. Soon, I would have to get back to the old project of infesting the Terrans, and hopefully find Nova in the process, but first the Zerg would have to be prepared.

Dehaka and his pack left us during this time. With the threat of total destruction no longer looming over us and so much essence consumed, Dehaka felt that the Koprulu sector no longer had much to offer him. Part of me disliked the idea of allowing of a powerful alien force to wander the universe consuming things. Certainly, Abathur urged me not to allow Swarm essence to escape our purview. But Dehaka had earned my respect, and I was curious what sort of creature he would turn into in the end. So, I wished him well and asked that he check in with us occasionally.

Dehaka's answer was a noncommittal grunt. "Promises foolish. Change constant, cannot know where I will be, what I will be. But… I grew much here. I will remember." So saying, Dehaka took his leave and disconnected from the hivemind.

It wasn't until several weeks after Dehaka and his pack left that I received the signal. The garrison that I left at Ulnar reported that a gateway to the Void had opened. Shortly after, Kerrigan began to complain of strange whispers once again…


	56. Into the Void

The Zerg alone were not ready for the operation Kerrigan demanded of us. I sent messages to the Protoss and the Terrans as well, explaining the situation and requesting assistance. Valerian replied sulkily, saying that between our previous military conflicts, the assaults of the corrupted Golden Armada and Amon's other forces, and the loss of much of his workforce to voluntary infestation, his forces were too weak to aid us. His answer was unsurprising, as between the propaganda I had forced Dominion media to show praising us for saving the Terrans from Amon, our embassy on Korhal, and the repeated assurances of infested friends and loved ones who by now had come to enjoy their new lot in life, a significant percentage of Terrans had presented themselves to us for infestation. My cause was taking off. And Valerian had the unenviable job of trying to stem the bleeding of the Terran population without provoking either us Zerg or other factions of Terrans into another war. Still, we had Stukov's flagship and a ton of infested weaponry, along with infested volunteers with military experience to operate them, which was probably better than Terran help, all things considered.

And of course, Artanis responded to my call with honor, as I knew he would. He took the Spear of Adun and an army of volunteers, including most of those who had been corrupted by Amon and so had not had the chance to fight for the Protoss in the previous war, and warped to Ulnar to meet us.

Now I sat at the head of the Leviathan, mentally rehearsing my speech, Kerrigan at my side. She had wanted to make the Protoss wait for us in a childish display of power, but I saw no reason for that. Instead, I opened a channel to the Spear of Adun as soon as it arrived. I was met by the faces of Artanis and the female Protoss from that final battle. I had by this time learned that the female Protoss was named Selendis and had been Artanis' chief executor before being corrupted by Amon. Artanis' eyes were warm, but Selendis' suspicious.

Artanis spoke up immediately. "Friends, you requested our assistance against Amon? How can it be that he yet lives?"

"Trusting you deceivers is not an act I am accustomed to, " Selendis commented. "This better not be a trap. "

"Such little faith for a templar," Kerrigan smirked.

"I'm sure Artanis told you all about how the Zerg have proved themselves honorable allies now, Selendis." I answered calmly. "Without us, you wouldn't be here to be suspicious, so let's skip to the part where you realize the gravity of the situation and agree to help. "

Selendis scowled, but inclined her head to bid me to continue.

"Now, we threw Amon back into the Void at the end of that last battle, " I began my story. "But apparently that doesn't mean he was defeated. His hateful spirit festers within the Void, growing in strength by the day, planning to return once more. Maybe not in a Terran's lifetime, but eventually. I plan to secure eternity for my people, and that means we have to defeat him once and for all, in the Void, now when he's at his weakest. "

"And how do you know this?" Selendis asked, in a tone more accusatory than curious.

"I still hear his whispers, " Kerrigan answered. "And something else… a voice that is like his, but is not his. A voice tormented and desperate, but benevolent. It begs me to come, to destroy the fallen one. I intend to heed the call. But I want your help."

"That voice could be the great enemy's trickery, " Selendis warned. "Entering the void could be a trap."

I smiled at Selendis' paranoia. I guess it made sense that someone who had fallen into Amon's trap once and had her free will stripped away as a result would be wary of traps in the future, but one thing I'd learned in that last war was that Amon wasn't really capable of subtlety. He just liked to boast and throw armies at us, not unlike that Primal Zerg we fought on Zerus. Bragg, was it? Quite the descriptive name, would work just as well for Amon. Maybe instead of Selendis' "The Great Enemy" we should start calling Amon "The Great Braggart."

Anyway, while I got lost in my thoughts, Kerrigan replied. "I know how to tell the difference between psionic voices, Protoss, " she said, annoyed. "This voice is not Amon's, and Amon's voice is weak. The time to strike is now."

Selendis, not satisfied, looked to Artanis. Artanis closed his eyes and moved his chest like he was taking a deep breath. "Zeratul foresaw this day would come," Artanis announced cryptically, opening his eyes. "You have our blades."

I nodded. "Thank you, Artanis. I'll have my brood in Ulnar activate the portal. Stand by to follow us into the Void."

…

Part of me still didn't believe that there could really be a place called the "Void" that a portal could take us to, or if there were, that it could be anything more than deep space. But I trusted Kerrigan, and I'd seen enough impossible things already that a special dark realm where physics acted wonkily didn't seem so unbelievable. And indeed, the first thing I noticed when my Leviathan exited the portal proved that we were not in simple deep space: a flood of ambient void energy prickled against the skin of every zerg unit not within the protective flesh of overlords, the Leviathan, or Stukov's Alexander. The ambient energy proved generally only lightly damaging, slowly disintegrating exposed exoskeletons like some kind of acid. But occasionally some kind of massive energy shadow would spike itself through my spacefaring minions, penetrating and wounding them. My queens and Abathur's symbiotes had their hands full, so to speak, trying to keep our fliers mended and healthy.

When the Protoss fleet followed us, I worried that without healing abilities they would suffer far worse, but then I remembered they were shielded. As long as they could keep their shields from draining away, they would be fine.

Our forces pushed forward, following Kerrigan's directions concerning the location of the benevolent voice. We soon found a massive island of rock drifting in the void.

"There!" Kerrigan cried upon spotting it. "I can sense it. We have to reach it! "

"Gonna be tough," I commented, noting the incredible number of void rifts, shards, thrashers, and other entities manifested on the stony platform. "Can we use our capital ships and nuke it?" I asked Abathur. We had only taken the one with us, as I figured we would not be doing much evolving or infesting in the Void, but we might need his advice. From his color scheme, he might even have been the original Abathur.

"Negative," he answered. "Similar difficulty as with host entity on Aiur. Void energy deflects kinetic and luminal energy. Void shards concentrating energy, must destroy, dissipate energy. Then may attack."

I nodded. "Doing this the hard way then. Launch our forces there," I said, pointing at the southeast tip of the island, which had sparser enemies. "We''ll take over this platform inch by inch. "

I conferred with Artanis, who invaded the southwest corner, and then got to work overseeing my army.

"The shadows will slowly consume our warriors," Artanis warned. "We must reach the Void shards and destroy them. Strike true! "

Zealots and stalkers, zerglings and roaches, our forces slowly swarmed over the south of the island, destroying the many void entities we encountered, and losing many good warriors and minions in the process. Soon, the first set of void shards fell, and any remaining void rifts or other entities no longer protected by the dissipating void energy were swiftly nuked from orbit by the Spear of Adun, the Alexander, and the Leviathan.

Suddenly, in the aftermath of the Void shards' explosion, a voice shouted psionically loud enough that even I could hear it. "Yes," it said in a deep and haunted, yet somehow reassuring voice. "Go forth. Purge the corruption. "

"That voice!" Artanis exclaimed, wide-eyed. "It is my former mentor, Tassadar! "

"That's the benevolent voice I told you about!" Kerrigan declared. "But it sounds different from the Tassadar I remember…"

I paused. It did sound much loftier than the voice of the Tassadar we had fought on Char so long ago. But it was close enough I could see how Artanis drew the connection. "We'll have to worry about that later," I said as a wave of void entities approached the beachhead we had established. "Fight them off and destroy those void rifts."

It took us time, resources, and more than a few lives, but we finally had bases up and running and the area cleared of enemies. We quickly destroyed the next set of void shards, and when we did, the voice called out again.

"I called to you in dire need," it declared in a voice full of newfound hope. "Now you have come to this realm! Here, I am a prisoner," it continued, its voice turning darker, more pleading. "You must free me from his grasp!"

Kerrigan shouted back in a general psionic broadcast. "Whose grasp?"

The voice that answered was not the voice any of us were expecting. "Ah, the Queen of Blades…" Narud said menacingly. "What a pleasant surprise."

"Duran!" I shouted telepathically. "But we killed you!"

At almost the same time, Kerrigan declared, "Narud. I thought you were dead."

"Mmm," Narud smirked. "Without form, we, the Xel'naga, return to the Void," he explained mockingly. "Here, I live on, but you will not be so fortunate." He chuckled. "I'd worried that by the time I returned, you'd be long dead, and I'd never get to have my revenge. How nice of you to deliver yourselves to my doorstep. Like sheep to the slaughter."

I scoffed. "This battle isn't going to end any better for you than the last one," I declared.

"I'm going to go down there and deal with him personally! " Kerrigan announced.

"No, Kerrigan," I said, shaking my head. "Out there, you won't have any protection against the concentrated Void energy. You're too valuable to risk."

Kerrigan opened her mouth to protest, but a new voice cut her off. "No, if anyone is finally putting that son of a bitch down for good, it's me, " Stukov declared firmly. "You will not dissuade me. And you need not worry: I have been working on a healing pathogen. I'll keep myself and our forces healthy. " He looked at me psionically, daring me to refuse him. I could have, of course, as the overmind control signal was not ignorable by any member of the Swarm who had not undergone primal infestation. But I would not deny Stukov his revenge and closure, not after he had been unable to participate in our first killing of Narud.

I nodded, and Stukov, satisfied, guided the Alexander down towards our base.

Narud sent wave after wave of void entities against us, many accompanied by the massive void thrashers we had fought on Shakuras. With all the ambient void energy empowering them and damaging us, the battles were certainly challenges. But by now we were veterans at fighting void entities, and we kept pushing back their assaults and counterattacking, slowly gaining ground and destroying void shards.

There was a lot of psionic chatter this battle as Stukov, Artanis and I coordinated, Narud taunted, and that other mysterious voice encouraged and pleaded. Most of it wasn't important. In one of Narud's more interesting taunts, he tried to convince Artanis that the Zerg could not be trusted and were the "enemy of all life."

Artanis wasn't convinced. "No, that would be you and your master, foul creature."

Then Stukov shouted, "Bring this bastard down!" and the focus returned to the fight.

Finally, after what felt like many grueling hours of combat, we had taken almost the whole island and brought down the last of the Void shards. As we marched on Narud's location, we saw him, finally wearing his true face: an enormous slender tentacled thing covered in thin gray skin pockmarked by glowing red spots.

He continued fighting our forces with an air of desperation, shooting lasers of null energy from his tentacle arms as he had once done at Skygeirr. But with his minions all cut into so many dissipated void particles, our armies quickly overwhelmed and wounded the Xel'Naga.

Then Stukov stood tall before the defeated monster.

"Hello Duran," he said in a dark and threatening tone. "Do you remember what you did to me?"

"Stukov." Narud acknowledged him in a tone of angry resignation, his head bowed in defeat. "You've come to gloat, haven't you?"

"No," Stukov answered, sneering up at his foe. "I've come to say goodnight, you son of a bitch." Then Stukov shot the monster in the face with an infested pistol. Narud screamed in pain and his weakened body tore itself apart, the pieces evaporating into mere chaotic void energies.

Though I hadn't been present for Duran's betrayal of Stukov, I gathered from the "ironic echo" tone Stukov had used with that line, and the thoroughly satisfied look on Stukov's face now, that Duran had said something similar to him during that event. But now Narud was finally dead. He had received his comeuppance, and Stukov his revenge. Good.

We had little time to celebrate our victory. When Narud finally died we all felt the rush of energy releasing. Suddenly, the benevolent whispers transformed into a loud roar. "Come to me," it said with authority in Tassadar's voice.

We felt a psionic pull leading us to another part of the Void, not far from our rocky island. We quickly set about finishing off any remaining enemies on our island, firmly establishing a foothold in this dark realm, before returning to our ships and venturing into the mysterious Void once more, seeking the source of the mysterious yet benevolent voice that had called us to action.


	57. Last Shepherd of the Cycle

Artanis reached the small platform of rock from which the psionic signal emanated first. "It is Tassadar! My mentor!" he shouted psionically as an overlord dropped off me and Kerrigan. "How can this be? Honored one, to see you brings such joy to my…"

Artanis stopped, and as I turned the corner around a pillar of rock, I saw why. The giant ghostly form of a Protoss, hovering over the platform like the illusion of Tassadar hovered over the caldera on Char all those years ago, suddenly evaporated into swirling blue energy, proving it, too, an illusion.

Then the blue energy moved into space a little ways from the platform and coalesced into an enormous monster. It reminded me of Narud and of images of Amon, but colored a fleshy pale gold instead of gray or deep black. Such a massive creature suddenly appearing should have been frightening, but it broadcast the psionic signal of someone overflowing with gratitude and kindness.

"Tassadar, a form I chose to inspire action in the one called Zeratul. In you." said the giant in a deep reassuring voice to an amazed Artanis. "The prophecies Zeratul followed-the result of my psionic extension into the minds of primitive beings."

I blinked at that revelation. So there'd been something to those useless prophecies besides Zeratul's own mad ramblings after all.

"You are a Xel'naga…" said Kerrigan, ever the undaunted one, the hint of surprise in her voice nothing like the amazement Artanis and I were feeling. "The one who called to me? Who are you?"

The Xel'naga took a ponderous breath and introduced itself. "Ouros. Last shepherd of the cycle. Enemy of Amon. He is one with the Void. It is an extension of his will, binding me as prisoner."

I frowned. 'One with the Void'? I thought the Void was a force, an energy, like gravity. But it shouldn't be possible to be one with such a thing. The more I heard about the Void, the more it seemed like the sort of vague plot-convenient magic you'd find in the pages of a children's fantasy novel, not science-based science fiction and certainly not real life. But whatever, it's not like I had any choice but to go with it as a part of the story of our struggle against Amon.

Kerrigan, of course, took it in stride. "Why have you summoned us here?"

"The cycle must not break," Ouros explained ponderously. "The merging of purity of essence and purity of form must continue. You, the one called Kerrigan, can merge with my essence."

I only half-paid attention to the cycle talk, but that last sentence caught my attention like a brick to the face.

"Fulfill your destiny," Ouros urged, staring at Kerrigan through a multiplicity of eyes. "Ascend as Xel'naga. Continue the Infinite Cycle."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I cried, waving my hands. "Back the hell up." I fixed Ouros' alien face with a piercing glare. "First, we just met you. We have no reason to believe anything you say. You were clearly willing to lie before, when you presented yourself as Tassadar. Second, I don't know what your essence is, but I'm pretty damn sure you're no Protoss, and I thought it'd been well established that the Protoss have purity of form, whatever that means. Perhaps you Xel'Naga have it too, but-"

Kerrigan opened her mouth to interject, but I pointed at her and cut her off.

"No, I'm not finished! I've heard enough to know this Ouros is a threat! Even if you have purity of form, you'd have to have purity of essence as well, which means you don't need Kerrigan. Third, even if you did somehow need Kerrigan, why did you focus on her? We have legions of infested just like her, including me! Any of us could 'merge with your essence', whatever that means, just as well as she! So, given these things, Ouros, why in the name of Earth should we give you what you want?"

"Only a Xel'naga can defeat the fallen one," Ouros replied matter-of-factly, unruffled by my rant.

"Why?" I demanded, my face contorted in rage and confusion.

"Void energy can only be destroyed if it is exposed to celestial energy. Only Xel'Naga can channel c1elestial energy."

"Right," I shook my head and sighed angrily. "Another energy. Of course. Well, the Dark Templar learned to harness void energy. I'm sure we can do the same with celestial energy. Just tell us where to gather it. Or, better yet, seeing as how you are a Xel'Naga, why don't YOU channel the energy to destroy Amon?"

"That's enough, Magis!" Kerrigan shouted at me, thrusting her finger in my face. "This is not about you!"

"No!" I agreed. "It's about strategy!"

"I can sense the celestial energy within Ouros," Kerrigan continued as though I hadn't said anything. "And I can sense that Amon has kept him too weak to access it. But if he infuses me with his energy, I can access it. I'm certain."

"I'm sure you could, Kerr." I replied quickly, my voice strained as I tried and failed to seem patient. "But it would be incredibly foolish to take such a drastic measure without considering other options. Where else might we find celestial energy for you to harness? Could we nurse Ouros back to health until he is able to do this himself? Should we even believe…"

Kerrigan cut me off again, "I can sense he's telling the truth!" she snapped. "Just as I can sense he's dying! When we freed him, we also took him off life support, so to speak. He doesn't have much time before his celestial energy dissipates, and there is no celestial energy to be found anywhere else! I would have sensed it. The closest thing is the solarite the Protoss use, but close isn't good enough for this. It's like matter and antimatter: only sufficient energy of the exact perfect resonance will destroy Amon's essence for good, and the only place to find that much of that kind of energy…" here Kerrigan slowed down and turned round to look at a pensive Ouros, "is in the heart of a creating god pure in both essence and form, the antithesis of the Void, a destroying force empty of essence or form."

I rolled my eyes. "This is pseudoscience if ever I heard it, Kerrigan. How on earth could you know the things you're saying?"

"I can sense it…" Kerrigan said softly, still looking at Ourus. "I feel a psionic connection to this being, I know… what he knows. It's strange. Maybe the parts about essence and form and the energy at the heart of a god were just more poetic ways of putting what's going on at a more basic level, I'm not sure, but everything Ouros and I have said is true. I'm as sure of that as I am that you and Artanis stand with me now."

I frowned. Speaking of the Protoss… "Artanis, what do you make of this?" I asked, turning to him as he stood to the side, worriedly watching the proceedings.

"I believe the Xel'Naga," he replied hesitatingly. "But I must ask: could you not merge with one of the Firstborn instead?"

"Possibly," Ouros answered slowly. "But your essence is less pure. More importantly, you lost the Khala. What keeps Amon out keeps me out as well."

"Then how could you merge with Kerrigan?" I demanded. "We underwent primal infestation to be rid of Amon's influence."

"You can still connect to the hivemind the Xel'Naga created for the Zerg," Ouros answered. "I, like, Amon, cannot force my way in… but you could allow us in."

I rubbed my face exasperatedly. "This sounds worse and worse. Kerrigan, you've been hearing his whispers for a while now. Maybe you believe him because he's been influencing you, and once you let him, he'll possess you just as Amon would!"

"No." Kerrigan shook her head firmly. "I can tell the difference, Magis. This is the right thing to do. And anyway, no one's asking you to merge with him. This is my choice. You'll have to trust me."

Kerrigan took a step towards Ouros, and in that moment I realized what I had to lose.

"Kerr, stop!" I shouted. "You're part of a family, a hivemind, closer than any family. I do trust you, but this isn't just about you. The Zerg needs you. Let someone else do this."

Kerrigan turned around, smiling fondly. "Oh, Magis," she whispered, approaching me and staring directly into my eyes. "The Zerg never needed me. What the Zerg needed, and needs, is you. You're the one who's led us to victory in battles uncountable. And you're the one who'll usher the Terrans to eternal life. Me, I was only ever in this for the power and the vengeance. And this… this is an opportunity to receive all the power I could ever want. Power not to destroy, but to create. With the celestial energy of a Xel'Naga, I can seed the universe with life, resurrect dead species. It's… a fitting penance for all the destruction I've caused. It's my destiny. I feel it."

"I don't believe in destiny, Kerr," I replied forlornly. "I believe that if you stayed with me, with the Zerg, you'd grow towards a different 'destiny', one just as good for you. You've already made progress." Kerrigan continued smiling fondly, and I sighed sadly, knowing I could not win this argument. "But… perhaps you're right," I continued. "The Zerg doesn't need you. But I do. After all we've been through, the bond we've formed… how could you forsake me?"

In that moment, Kerrigan's expression turned more tender than I'd ever seen it before, even as a Terran. "Oh, Magis." she repeated, leaning in closer, to the point where our faces were almost touching. I could tell that if I were Terran I would have been feeling the anticipatory butterflies of a kiss. But our scaly lips were not designed for kissing. They'd only -

Kerrigan did it. She pressed her lips to mine. It was nothing like a Terran kiss, there was no give, no moisture, no instinct to kiss more deeply. It was more like two solid mouth-shaped rocks touching. But it was still nice.

Her lips moved under mine as she whispered. "I'll try to drop in occasionally. But we've talked about this before. My heart belongs to another. And I can sense the power in Ouros. With it, there's a chance that he…" she trailed off.

My eyes widened and I pulled away, my hands flying up to grasp her shoulders. I stared her intensely in the eyes. "Are you telling me-" I started in a too high voice, prompting me to clear my throat and start over. "Are you telling me that if you take Ouros' power you can resurrect James Raynor?"

Kerrigan exhaled slowly. "All I'm saying is there's a chance. The Xel'Naga are not omnipotent, but creation and recreation are not so dissimilar. It will take time, study, I may have to awaken the Protoss Purifiers… but if there's even a chance, I have to take it."

I nodded. "You're right." I took a deep breath, then drew away from Kerrigan. "I understand." I held out my hand to her. Infestation did not make one lose one's familiarity with Terran gestures of farewell. "So, I wish you the best of luck. Take care, Kerr," I said, smiling through the sadness.

"Oh Magis," Kerr said for a third time as she ignored my hand and drew me in for an exoskeleton-hard hug. "Thank you. For everything." Her eyes shone as she drew back and turned away.

She approached Ourus. "I'm ready."

Ouros nodded slowly. He waved his many tentacles, and a glowing yellow energy began flowing like water out of his eyes and into Kerrigan.

There was a roar in the distance. Artanis and I looked at one another.

"The Xel'naga's light will be impossible to hide from our enemy," Artanis said with steel in his voice. "The battle ahead will be difficult."

I nodded, trying to keep my voice from choking. "Let's prepare."


	58. The Essence of Eternity

Artanis and I quickly set up a defensive perimeter around Kerrigan. Sure enough, void thrashers soon materialized just outside the perimeter. I was a little worried about how we would protect the enormous Ourus from their bombardments, but as he floated out hundreds of feet away from the island, I figured he could defend himself.

"Amon's shadows will devour all," he said as he floated away, the tendrils of celestial energy still connecting him and Kerr. "Kerrigan, may the last of my essence give you the power you need." 

"The power…" Kerrigan said, grimacing as the energy flowed into her. "It... it's so much."

"You must channel it." Ourus replied. "Use it against these dark servants."

Kerrigan nodded. "I... I will destroy these thrashers!"

The golden energy flowing into her grew into a harsh beam, which Kerrigan then redirected like a mirror, reflecting the beam onto thrasher after thrasher. Upon contacting the celestial beam, the watchers quickly withered and died.

"I need to focus until this is finished." Kerrigan announced tiredly to me and Artanis as she floated into the air and curled up as though she were back in a chrysalis again. "Try to handle this without my help."

"You got it," I answered. I mentally reviewed our resources. Much of our armada and most of our allies were occupied fighting space-faring void entities elsewhere. But Zagara, who had accompanied us through the void gate, had tired of overseeing the healing transfusions of the Leviathan and requested to join us in defending her queen. If she led half the Swarm... "All right, Zagara, Artanis, lets divy up the territory so we dont step on one another's toes. I'll take the northwest third of the perimeter. Zagara, you take the eastern third. Artanis, you take the southern third. Build up defenses and stand your ground, and we'll all get out of this alive."

Zagara acknowledged my order, crying, "The Swarm will aid its queen unto death!"

"And the might of the Firstborn stands with you," Artanis added.

I nodded. "Then let's do this " 

Overlords ferried in drones and military reinforcements, hatcheries morphed more minions and spread creep, spine crawlers morphed all along the perimeter, along with spore crawlers, infested siege tanks, and every other defense we had at our disposal. At the same time, Artanis shuttled in probes and templar and warped in bases and defenses, including rows of photon cannons and shield batteries.

A familiar dark voice entered my consciousness. "You have come to seek your death…" 

So, Amon had taken notice of us. "Send us your minions, Amon," I cried tauntingly. "We'll obliterate every last one of them!"

"What will she become when she is a Xel'naga?" Amon whispered to me. Directly. "Do not forget... I have also ascended…"

That… was a point. I turned to look at Kerrigan, her face scrunched up in concentration but radiant with celestial energy.

I shook myself. The very fact that Amon was trying to convince me that doing this to Kerr was a bad idea suggested that we were doing the right thing. "No!" I declared aloud as well as telepathically. "You also descended, Amon. If void energy is opposite celestial energy, and you are one with the void, then you are opposite Kerrigan, not like her!"

Amon stopped whispering after that, but the battle continued. Waves of void entities assaulting our perimeter from every direction, punctuated by occasional void thrashers, which tried to bombard Kerrigan from a distance. We held the line against the waves, quickly replacing any destroyed defenses, and sent assaults of our own against the Void thrashers whenever we could afford to. When we couldn't, after a minute or so of bombardment an irritated Kerrigan would divert her attention to channel the energy flowing through her into a beam of celestial death directed at the void thrasher and any void entities caught in the blast.

At one point, when I spotted a wave of void entities gathering outside our walls after having just repelled a particularly vicious attack, I cried out in exasperation, "These monsters just won't let up!"

Zagara heard my exclamation and responded with confusion. "Why would they? Tenacity is advantageous in war."

I blinked. "Yes, I know, but that wasn't what I…"

I stopped as the gathering wave launched itself at us and the sounds of our crawler strikes and siege cannons began to reverberate through our rocky Isle. "Nevermind, it's not important," I said to Zagara as I refocused my attention on the battle. 

More waves. More thrashers.

Amon whispered again. "She cannot be trusted with the power of a Xel'naga. You know it to be true…"

She wouldn't have been my first choice for the powers of a god, no. But I'd talked to her. I knew her intentions were benign. She would never betray the Swarm. Right?

I decided not to dignify Amon's whisper with a response.

More fighting.

"You aid a monster who has murdered scores of Terrans and Protoss. The Zerg will be next."

"Shut up, Amon!" I cried. I would ensure the Zerg would never stand in her way, and as long as I did, I could not believe that the Kerrigan I knew would attack a former ally. Sure, she's betrayed, we've betrayed, but only in the service of some greater end or some retribution. But there was nothing left for her to avenge. Except Amon's own murders and manipulations. "I do not want to hear any more of this!"

"Remain focused, my friend," Artanis said psionically, sensing my distress.

I took a deep breath, calming myself. "Right."

More battles. More thrashers. More taunting. More energy transferring to Kerrigan. 

Finally, Amon, sensing the energy transfer was almost complete, held his forces back, gathering more and more, until finally he unleashed them all in one massive assault. Under the weight of the onslaught of void thors, void battlecruisers, void carriers, void brood lords, void ultralisks, void thrashers, and so on, we lost many forces, and Zagara's whole front was quickly demolished. Thankfully, Artanis arrived to reinforce her. But the enemy didn't let up. Tenacious indeed. Now Artanis' front was threatened. I rushed to his aid, but still, all fronts were under pressure, and our perimeter was collapsing.

I frantically called for assistance from any available space-faring zerg, but before I had time to do anything more, Kerrigan screamed. 

"That is it…" Kerrigan said firmly as golden energy began to spread across her features, "I have all of the Xel'naga's essence." Then she stood up in the air and threw her hands out to her side, and a golden energy nova erupted from her fingertips. The energy nova spread swiftly across the battleground, washing over us all and annihilating every void entity it touched.

There was a roar as the nova passed by, and then it was done. Just like that, the battle was won, and Kerrigan now possessed the power of a god. I could only pray we'd made the right decision.

She looked down at us from her hovering perch, pieces of her exoskeleton and facial features barely visible underneath the wealth of glowing golden energy dancing all across and around and inside her body.

Zagara was the first to respond. "I have been honored to serve you, my queen," she said, bowing.

"Remember our lessons, Kerr," I added softly. "And our time together."

Kerrigan smiled underneath the flowing energy. "I shall. The Swarm is yours, Magis. Usher in the utopia you dreamt of." She bowed back to Zagara, and then to me.

I nodded. "I shall," I echoed.

"It is time…" Ouros whispered psionically in a weary voice as he floated near us.

We looked up at him, and as we watched the golden light left his eyes. "With the last of our essence, a new eternity dawns," he proclaimed weakly. "The Infinite Cycles have come to their end." Then Ouros' eyes darkened, he closed his eyes, and his body began to drift aimlessly in the Void.

Artanis knelt and bowed before the dead Xel'Naga.

I shook my head, not sharing the Protoss' respect. Hadn't Ouros just said, to convince us to take his essence, "The Infinite Cycles must not break"? Now he says they're at an end? What? Couldn't Kerrigan create more creatures pure of essence and form and start the cycle anew if she wished? It'd really be nice if all of this magical essence and form nonsense had been explained more clearly.

Well, whatever, Ouros and his cycles didn't really concern me. What concerned me was Kerrigan, whose face was scrunched up in concentration as the last of Ouros' energy flowed into her

Then, when her glowing body held the whole of the golden energy, there was an explosion of light, blinding us.

When I recovered, and turned my eyes back to the scene, Ouros' body was gone, presumably dissipated into the Void like all dead hybrid and Xel'Naga.

And Kerrigan… Kerrigan had been transformed into a towering angelic figure of pure golden energy. There was no longer a hint of purple exoskeleton, bony wings, harsh cheekbones, or snakelike hair. Instead, there was a large glowing body, outstretched fiery wings, a soft face with burning eyes, and a bonfire for hair.

Artanis and I stared up at her in awe.

"She is… xel'naga," murmured Artanis.

I wasn't sure I agreed. She looked nothing like the bulbous tentacled masses of Ouros and Narud. She looked like Kerrigan… if Kerrigan were also celestial energy incarnate.

"Our time together will always be with me," she said in a soft harmonious telepathic voice, one that reverberated further than any Protoss'. But while she looked at us, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking past us, communicating with someone else far away.

"You got the power you wanted, Kerrigan!" I shouted up to her. "Now what will you do with it?"

She craned her neck, as if staring at something in the distance. Then she turned back towards me and fixed me with a piercing stare through eyes that burned like the heart of a star. "I will end Amon," she declared firmly. "Follow me."

She flew through space faster than I could see, leaving only a smoky trail behind to mark her path.

I blinked. "Alright then."

Artanis and I quickly gathered our forces, leaving only a small garrison to guard the gateway back home, and chased after Kerrigan.

After some travel time, we found her on a large asteroid obliterating void entities on her own. In an enormous hole at the center of the asteroid… floated Amon. For the first time, we beheld not his voice, nor his illusions, nor his host, but his true form: a many-eyed tentacled monster. Like Ouros, but black as the void he swam in, and eyes as red as a dying sun.

Finally, the target of all our efforts, the villain behind so much death and suffering, lay within our grasp. I swore to every lost soul Amon had corrupted and killed: today, vengeance arrives. Today, Amon dies.


	59. Amon's Fall

The asteroid was covered with void rifts and void entities, and floating between Amon and the asteroid surrounding him were dozens of void shards.

Kerrigan turned her celestial energy on the void creatures and carved a path to Amon.

As she approached, Amon spoke in a psionic voice loud enough for us to hear. "Your newfound strength gives you no advantage here. I have fought and killed Xel'Naga before." 

Kerrigan smiled a smile that on her angelic face seemed serene, but knowing her as well as I did, I knew it was better described as cocky. "You have never faced anything like me," she declared condescendingly.

Amon roared and threw some sort of invisible force at her, pushing her back.

At this point I was landing the Leviathan near the area she had cleared. "Kerr, Artanis and I are here," I told her telepathically. "How do we take down this bastard?"

Kerrigan looked up towards my descending Leviathan. "Amon is enveloped within a barrier of energy," she explained in her harmonious voice. "His Void crystals make him nearly invincible. But they are also his weakness. They have to leave his barrier to recharge themselves with more void energy. When they do, we must destroy them."

Artanis broke into the conversation. "The platform is covered in void entities! We cannot deploy our forces!"

"I'll clear a safe zone," Kerrigan replied, already wading into the tide of void energy, shooting her celestial energy at enemy after enemy.

Meanwhile, I unloaded my forces in the area she had already cleared. "Zagara, take the left side!" I barked orders. Stukov, right! I'll take the front. Push forward and clear out the void structures, give us room to maneuver. Use ultralisks and broodlings to soak up the damage, bring in the hydras and mutas to waste 'em. In fact, use everything. We win this battle, we win it all, so don't hold back!"

"The Alexander is at your service," Stukov said, piloting the enormous infested battlecruiser over to my right, laser batteries bombarding the asteroid's surface.

"For the Swarm!" Zagara cried as she called down a hail of droppods from the orbiting spacefarers and summoned dozens of scourge from our fleet, pushing into the left and exploding, clawing, or acid-spitting her way through the enemies in her path.

Meanwhile, I had an overlord take me to the front. No reason to hold resources back in this fight, and I was powerful in my own right. After morphing a small base of operations on the asteroid, I gathered zerglings and hydralisks, summoned mutalisks and brood lords, and otherwise brought the might of the Swarm to bear on the forces of Amon.

While us Zerg pushed one side of the asteroid, Artanis landed on the other side, once Kerrigan cleared space for him. Together with Selendis, Vorazun, Karax, and Fenix, Artanis swiftly deployed his forces and waded into the flood of void monsters.

Zealots, zerglings, colossi, ultralisks, tempests, brood lords, everything we had we threw at everything Amon had. The scale of the conflict was incredible. Our forces were definitely stronger, but there were just so ridiculously many void entities and void rifts that kept spawning more void entities that progress was extremely slow and even stalled at times.

It'd been a long time since I'd fought personally, and I was quite enjoying flying over my forces, spitting globs of acid at enemies and healing juice at allies. Less fun was dodging the hail of spikes, lasers, and energy blasts the enemies kept firing up at me.

I had to admit, I wasn't sure that we could have won this on our own. Amon could have beaten us, not by out-strategizing us nor by wielding his overpowered hybrid, but simply through attrition, as the sheer number of forces at his disposal slowly whittled through ours. But our forces weren't on our own. It seemed letting Kerrigan absorb the Xel'Naga essence was the right choice, as she was absolutely wrecking these void things.

She focused on the void crystal shards she'd mentioned, periodically collecting a strike force from one of our armies, wading out to a shard that wandered out of Amon's barrier, keeping her allies alive through her celestial healing energy, and destroying the shard with the same energy along with every void creature that stood in her way.

We continued in the same way, pushing with everything we had at our disposal into the sea of void enemies, Kerrigan spearheading efforts to destroy crystals, for some time. Finally, after the third crystal fell, Amon screamed.

The rocky terrain under Zagara's forces began to shake. Violently.

"The ground trembles!" Zagara cried.

There was no way a natural earthquake could occur on a small asteroid floating in the Void. Plus the quaking was too localized, it wasn't the whole island shaking, just the part under Zagara's army. And that meant…

"Zagara, get yourself into an overlord! Now!" I shouted telepathically with all the urgency I could muster.

But it was too late. Overlords swooped down to pick up Zagara and her minions, even as her other fliers fled, but then the ground shattered. Asteroid debris, hundreds of rocks, thousands of zerg, and Zagara herself all tumbled into the abyss, slamming against one another as they were pulled down by whatever unknown force took the place of gravity in this dark realm.

I heard Zagara screaming telepathically, more angry than afraid, along with the panicked chittering of her minions. Then there was silence. And a massive hole cutting clean through the southwestern part of the asteroid where Zagara's forces had fought.

Amon laughed cruelly.

I took a deep breath. Zagara was dead. I'd liked her. That was too bad. But she was replaceable. She was hardly the most important Zerg. We still needed to win this battle.

I opened a general telepathic channel. "Kerrigan, Stukov, Artanis, Amon is ripping out the ground from under us. I just lost my southwestern army division. It must take some time for him to gather enough power to attack like that, or we'd all already be swimming in the void. Be ready for him to do it again. Have transports standing by, and if you feel the ground trembling, get the hell out of dodge."

"In that case, we should not bother building bases," Artanis answered. "It would only be a matter of time before he destroyed them. Ferry troops and supplies down from our fleets instead."

I nodded, but Kerrigan gave no indication she heard us, instead continuing her advance on the fourth crystal, quickly destroying it.

I moved my forces more to the west, gathering Zagara's scattered survivors, and we continued our campaign against Amon.

Selendis' forces were the next to be targeted by Amon's earth-shattering attack. Thanks to my warning, she had shuttles standing by, and she and most of her forces survived the ground's destruction.

Kerrigan destroyed another crystal, and the flood of void entities on the platform were starting to drain away under the weight of our assault.

"I see your truth, Kerrigan…" Amon said angrily as his protective void shard exploded. "You are no champion of light... Murderer... Hypocrite…"

Kerrigan did not deign to respond.

Between the Alexander, the Apocalisk, and all his infested forces, Stukov had nearly finished clearing out the void rifts in southeastern part of the island. Then the ground under him began to shake.

"Men, evacuate!" Stukov commanded calmly, as infested dropships picked up some forces and others scrambled to get to safety.

The ground broke sooner this time, and much of our infested armament, including Stukov's prized Apocalisk, fell through the abyss as Amon opened its devouring maw.

This time, while Stukov's surviving forces were occupied with fleeing to safety, Amon sent an attack wave of flying void entities. Void vikings and void phoenixes and void scourge, and if I wasn't mistaken there was even a void devourer. They threw themselves into Stukov's fliers. The infested dropships quickly fell, the infested starships escorting them unequal to their task.

Most of our infested forces were lost that day. I'd refused to endanger any of the immortal infested who had not demonstrated a complete understanding of eternal death and a vivid willingness to die to safeguard the future, so most of the forces that fell were unmanned, but the loss of so much infested equipment was still a heavy blow, and even one immortal's death a tragedy.

Worst of all, the Alexander was under too much pressure. Its laser batteries fired at maximum capacity, but there were so many void creatures. It couldn't stop them all.

I sent as many of my fliers as I could spare to assist, and Artanis called down spare interceptors and plasma shielding and energy bombardments to support the infested battlecruiser, but just as it seemed the battle would turn in our favor, the void entities pierced the shields and set the Alexander's engines ablaze. Slowly, the cruiser drifted down, pulled in by the gravity substitute which pulled more strongly than any small asteroid or even planet should have been able to, finally crashing into the asteroid just outside of the hole that marked Amon's most recent earth-shattering.

"Stukov?" I asked telepathically, worried I had lost someone much less replaceable. "Stukov? Do you live?"

I heard coughing in response and breathed a sigh of relief. "I live," Stukov answered in his thick accent. "But am wounded. I must evacuate the ship. Apologies, Magis. Give Amon hell from me."

"I will," I nodded, as I arranged for overlords carrying healing queens to pick up him and his fellows aboard the crashed battlecruiser.

Stukov's surviving forces defended the ship as Artanis and I continued pushing, and Kerrigan destroyed another void shard. He only had three left with which to generate his barrier.

Amon's next earthquake target was Vorazun, whose dark templar knew the Void well and blinked to safety. After that, he targeted me. Just as I believed he would. I was ready, and my wings quickly carried me far away as my forces aboard their overlords fled the scene. Amon sent flying void entities again, but fewer, having expended most of his forces in previous attacks. My mutalisks and scourge defeated them quickly.

Another shard down. The next shattering targeted Karax, who survived but lost many of his slower robotic allies. The one after that targeted the Alexander, which Stukov and most everyone else had evacuated, but anyone still trapped inside hurtled into the abyss along with the burning battlecruiser itself and all Zerg lingering nearby.

Kerrigan destroyed the penultimate shard. By now most of the void entities and all of the void rifts had been cleared from the asteroid. Artanis and I joined her at the hole of the center of the asteroid where Amon lay. We watched as Amon guarded his last shard, keeping it close for as long it kept the energy necessary to sustain his barrier. He continued destroying the asteroid, and sending any void remnants to attack us, but he was no longer laughing.

Finally, reluctantly, as the barrier flickered, weakening, he sent up the last void shard for recharging. "I was forced to become this, just as you were," he said, in the closest he ever got to begging for mercy. "Torn from everything I knew."

"And we used what we were forced to become for the betterment of the sector," I answered coldly. "You used it only to destroy."

We quickly closed on and destroyed the last shard. The void barrier shimmered once and then evaporated. Amon was vulnerable.

"There is no purpose to our battles, our struggles," Amon said in a dark tone that carried a hint of pleading. "We suffer and die only to be forgotten."

I shook my head. "There was no purpose to your battles, no. And you do suffer and die only to be forgotten. And thus you prove your foolishness." I paused to give my allies a chance to speak up, but they seemed uninterested in refuting the already defeated god. "We fought for a purpose," I continued. "The only purpose that matters: the happiness and well-being of all. We will not suffer and die forgotten. We will live happily and live forever. This I promise you, Amon. It is a shame you will not live to see it. But not a great one."

Amon growled, and a beam of void energy shot out from him towards me. 

Kerrigan waved her hands and batted the beam out of the sky in a flourish of celestial energy. "It is over, Amon," she declared firmly, like a mother scolding a foolish child who wanted to play past curfew.

"You are but a product of a flawed cycle!" Amon screamed, his voice tinted with an emotion I'd never heard him express so clearly before: fear. "Manipulated for the entirety of your existence!"

"You know nothing about me!" Kerrigan roared, her fiery hair flaring up with energy as though much fuel had just been added to the inferno. "I care little for the Xel'naga's Infinite Cycle or your twisted lies. No. I choose something different. I choose freedom… for all of us."

So saying, Kerrigan shot out a beam of celestial energy on a direct path to Amon's many-eyed head. He waved a tentacle and tried to deflect the shot with void energy as Kerrigan had deflected his, but it was clear he had already expended the energy he had regained in the Void during our last battle. His strike was weak, and Kerrigan's blasted right through it and crashed into Amon's head with immense force, burrowing deep into the fallen Xel'Naga. His body started to crack as the light of Kerrigan's celestial energy spread across him.

Suddenly, Kerrigan pulled back and turned to me. "I can sense the Void destabilizing. When Amon dies, this realm will collapse. Flee! Get back through the portal!" 

"What about you?" I asked, worried she was about to sacrifice herself.

"I'll be fine!" Kerrigan declared. "Hurry! Now!"

It was frighteningly likely she was lying, but I felt confident her urgency, at least, was truthful, so there wasn't time to press the question, and I didn't have any alternatives.

"The infested will never forget you, Kerr," I said, forcing myself to choose my parting words to the most important person in my life quickly, before I flew up to rejoin the Leviathan, ordering my forces to follow.

Artanis quickly evacuated his forces as well, and together we raced to the portal. As we approached, I sensed Kerrigan redouble her efforts and Amon's body begin to break apart. The Void around me began to crack in some way that was more metaphysically felt than visibly sensed. The cracks grew larger and longer, until finally, when I felt it on the cusp of shattering entirely, the Leviathan and the rest of our forces found ourselves back at Ulnar.

I extended my senses into an overlord and looked behind me, and where there had once been a massive portal to a dark realm, there was now only empty space and ancient walls.

Amon was gone. So was Kerrigan.


	60. Homecoming

A year passed since the dramatic conclusion of the End War against Amon, and since the last time I had seen Kerrigan.

I found myself celebrating the milestone alone in an infested command center built over the ruins of New Gettysburg, where this had all began. The Zerg had firmly reclaimed Tarsonis, and were in the process of claiming most of the habitable planets in the Koprulu sector not claimed by Protoss. I intended to allow Valerian's Terran Dominion control of Korhal and a few other key worlds for the time being, and I had yet to engage the mostly neutral Umojan Protectorate, but they were the only exceptions.

I was on Tarsonis to oversee recolonization efforts. The number of immortal infested had grown a great deal over the past year, as many wished to utilize Abathur's ingenious reproductive solution to lay eggs and experience parenthood. The new infested were still babies, of course, though a few of the older ones had experienced their first molting. Part of living with an exoskeleton, it seemed, was that our children would have to regularly shed their skin rather than grow continually. But even with unusual babies, many families wished to spread amongst the stars with their zerg servants, an aspiration I encouraged. Even if we eventually filled up the Koprulu sector, there was plenty of universe to go around.

And we were still getting volunteers from the Terran planets every once in a while, though fewer now as most of those who wished for the escape I'd promised had already come, and those who remained held tenaciously to their identity as mammalian Terrans, steadfastly denying that the Zerg's advantages were worth the cost. Indeed, many urged Valerian to remove my embassy and take military action against me, but he was not so foolish as to believe he could win such a war. Even weakened by our adventure into the Void, the Swarm's forces dwarfed Valerian's own. I could probably have invaded and forcibly infested the rest of the Dominion, but I didn't think it wise to wage another war so soon after the last. Besides, you never knew when it might turn out to be useful to have kept some mammalian Terrans around. So I contented myself with only forcibly infesting those Terran convoys and outlying settlements that strayed too close to Zerg space. I felt sorry for all those Terrans who were dying rather than present themselves to us for immortality, but I figured that as long as we kept infesting volunteers, they had no one to blame for their foolish choice but themselves.

Most of my time these days was spent leading the Infested with Stukov, who had finally received his fully infested exoskeleton-covered body after losing many of his remaining human limbs and organs in the crash of the Alexander. Izsha, Abathur, Warfield (who had remained on Char to oversee things during our trip into the Void), and many broodmothers assisted us, but none of them had the capacity to really lead the Zerg, just support them. The new broodmothers could not match Zagara in terms of experience and intelligence, so, with the additional losses of Kerrigan, Dehaka, and Nova, we were down from the six leaders of last year to two. Thus, there was a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.

I also hoped to find Nova again and persuade her to return, in part because I needed the assistance of a leader as capable as her, and in part because I still really wanted to know why she left. She was a loose end to my happy ending. But despite all my efforts this past year, inquiring and intimidating and investigating, I could not find the ghost's tracks. It was like she'd vanished into thin air.

Today, I'd decided I needed a short break from my duties to relax and play some of the Lost Viking arcade game. There was still one achievement in that game I had yet to obtain, which required defeating three particular bosses three times, and I had resolved not to allow my repeated failures to dissuade me from trying over and over until I finally succeeded. What good was immortality if it didn't allow you to guiltlessly waste time on fun little achievements like that? Unfortunately, the machine I had recovered on Tarsonis last year had broken down months ago, but I'd been able to transfer the files to a disc inserted into the infested computer before me now. On a whim, when I began the game, I also tuned a monitor in my command center to UNN.

Kate Lockwell must have loved her job, because she still chose reporting for the Terran United News Network over immortality and the hivemind's provision of constant sector-wide news. Most of what the network said was immaterial to me, but this time Kate said something interesting enough to make me pause my game and listen intently from my command chair.

"Today marks the fifth anniversary of the fall of the Arcturus Mengsk regime," Kate announced. I had not realized it, but we had killed Arcturus at about the same day of the Earth-standard year that we had killed Amon. Two villains, together now celebrating their deathdays in the grave.

Kate continued. "To memorialize this milestone, Emperor Valerian Mengsk unveiled a statue in the capital park of Augustgrad of his father crushing a miniature zergling beneath his heel. It seems likely the Emperor hoped this gesture would placate the political group known as 'The Defenders of Man,' a group that has gained popular support in recent months on a platform accusing the Emperor of being too soft on the alien Zerg, who still maintain a presence on Korhal's surface and continue to claim the lives of hundreds of Terrans each day."

That was an exaggeration. At this point our volunteers were probably an average of three a day, with a few dozen more forcibly infested every couple weeks when we ambushed a wayward convoy or distant settlement. More importantly, it wasn't claiming their lives, it was giving them life.

"The gesture does not seem to have helped, however," Kate continued, "As the Defenders of Man demonstrated on the steps of the Senate, demanding more be done about the Zerg. Admiral Matthew Horner spoke to the protestors, arguing they were already doing all they could with the resources available to them and reaffirming the military's support of Emperor Valerian."

Lockwell paused and shifted tones of voice slightly. "We'll keep you apprised of updates as they come in. Tune in at eleven to hear our thoughts on why no one has heard from the Protoss since their armada rampaged across the sector over a year ago. This is Kate Lock-"

I turned off the news, as she'd clearly gotten through the important bits. I wondered how the Terrans would deal with this conflict, but I was confident I could handle whatever happened.

I turned inward instead, reminiscing on the past. I'd sought out the solitude of this command center so that I could take a break from the business of organizing a utopia, and after that broadcast I felt more like reflecting than playing.

Abathur's newest evolution, which he had been working on for months at my behest, permitted the infested to enjoy a nearly photographic memory, easily calling up previous experiences as though they were before us still. It didn't work as well on the memories I'd formed as a Terran, but I still had flashes. There was a moment from my childhood when my mother first told me I was destined for mediocrity. My graduation ceremony from the officer's academy, when I was as proud of myself as I'd ever been, never mind the fact that, unlike my peers, I had no family members in the audience to celebrate my achievement with. The horror of hearing my adjutant detecting the nuclear launch that destroyed my reputation and sealed my fate. Resignedly introducing myself to the backwards Mar Sara colonials as their new magistrate. Meeting Jim Raynor. The moment we learned Arcturus was going to use psi emitters on Tarsonis.

Then the memories came more clearly. Learning to control the Swarm in the Hivemind sac. My poolside conversation with Kerrigan on Char. Hunting the Protoss, losing the Overmind, toppling the UED, murdering Arcturus, waiting under Amon's control, gathering the artifact pieces, deinfesting ourselves, escaping Valerian, talking with Nova, defeating Warfield, infesting ourselves again, meeting Dehaka, fighting Narud, assisting the Protoss, fighting Amon… I remembered it all.

It wasn't just images. Now that I'd opened the floodgates, lines of dialogue leapt unbidden into my consciousness, sometimes accompanied by emotions or images. For a time, I simply floated among these memories, losing my sense of the present and burying myself into key moments of the past.

...

A sneering face. "Commander, send Lieutenant Kerrigan with a strike force to engage the Protoss."

"Belay that order! We're moving out!"

"No! Jim! Don't be a fool!"

Confusion, exhilaration. "Awaken my child, and embrace the glory that is your birthright."

"Arise… Kerrigan. What I have wrought this day shall be undoing of my enemies!"

"I'm one of the Zerg now, and I like what I am! You can't imagine how this feels."

"Unfortunate it is to see that one who was once so honorable and full of life would succumb to the twisted wiles of the Overmind."

The feeling of my soul shattering. "What… does this mean that...?" "I… I think so." "We are now the leaders of the Zerg Swarm. We can use the swarm however we see fit."

A sense of loss and of trust. "You want to destroy the universe, and when you've succeeded, and all happiness in life has been extinguished, then shall you turn your wrath upon yourself, and finally die." "Let us love one another, you and I. No one else shall."

The weight of deciding the fate of the galaxy. "I think we should infest all the Terrans. Make them all like us. For their own good."

Terrified Terran faces. "Brothers and sisters, do not be frightened. I am in command of the Zerg here, and I swear you will not be harmed."

"Don't listen to it! It's talking about infestation!"

"The weak die. The strong survive. Principle of evolution. Cannot change." "Sometimes the weak become strong!"

"You're usually so calm. It's nice to see your spirit come out."

"If I must die, I will die like an emperor!" Claws sinking into flesh. "I made you into a monster." "You made us all into monsters."

A cocky grin. "You see, at this point… I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the universe."

The buzzing influence of Amon. "I think that we shall allow them a reprieve." "I agree."

The whispers, the helplessness. "The end comes. When it finds me, I will embrace it at last." "You can't give up on the universe yet. Not while I still draw breath."

Hoping, laughing. "Kerr? If you want to be casual, you should call me Sarah." "Sarah is a Terran name."

"Maybe I do need a new name. I'll have to give it some thought." "I will too. Knowing you, you'd just change your name to 'Leader' or something equally silly."

Waking as Terran, forgetful. "Kerrigan? Where is Kerrigan?"

Her, beautiful and Terran, framed in the cell doorway. "Come on, Magis. It's time to go." "Magis?" "You shortened 'Kerrigan,' I'll shorten 'Magistrate.'"

An angry ghost. "The Zerg make for a good family, Nova. You will find love and meaning in the hivemind."

"Enjoying your new toy?" "Kerrigan, a bond formed between us while we served the Overmind together, and that bond was never broken. I won't leave you. And you won't leave me."

Nervousness. "We have a chance to move beyond flirting, to have a real relationship."

Staring into wistful eyes. "You still love Raynor."

"I understand why we can't be lovers, but we will always be friends and allies."

"I'll make a deal with you, Nova. Think of us as allies, friends, even family. If when Amon is finally defeated you still want to leave, I will not stop you."

Kerrigan sprawled out and wounded. Panic. "Call all nearby Abathurs and queens! She needs immediate medical attention!"

"If Kerrigan warped into a black hole… shit."

Relief, the sensation of a rough embrace. "About time you showed up, Magis." "Kerr. I had worried you were lost to me."

"I promised Nova if she didn't like the Zerg she could return to the Terrans. I will hear an explanation from her, though. I must have closure."

The anticipation of battle. "I know you, Kerr, and I believe in you. You can overcome the darker parts of your nature."

Confident and eager. "We are the Swarm, embracing the glory that is our birthright!"

The dreaded words. "You, the one called Kerrigan, can merge with my essence."

A bony finger thrust in my face. "That's enough, Magis! This is not about you!"

Resignation. Embracing, kissing. "Thank you. For everything."

A golden angel, unrecognizable. "Our time together will always be with me."

Distress. "I'll be fine! Hurry! Now!" "The infested will never forget you, Kerr."

...

It all kept playing in my mind, over and over, a compilation of highlights. Especially that last one. No, the infested would never forget Kerr, I would never forget Kerr, her memory would last into the farthest reaches of immortal eternity, I would make sure of that. I missed her terribly. I missed Nova too. I felt so alone, doing what I knew was right, but with no one but Stukov for friendship. And so I meditated on my memories, desperately wishing I could bring Kerrigan back, playing all the possibilities out in my mind, regretting my mistakes and wishing I could change things. The fate of all who grow too old is to have many memories, many regrets, many what-ifs and could-have-beens. But also many joys, I comforted myself. With immortality, I'd learn to live with both.

My consciousness was pulled so deep into my memories that I didn't notice the pairs of footsteps reverberating down the hallway towards me. It was only when bright golden light suffused the room that I was finally broken out of my reverie.

"I knew you'd make your way back here eventually," said a familiar voice.

I turned to stare wide-eyed at the speaker who I had assumed was long dead. Before me stood a woman with the fiery red hair and soft face of Terran Kerrigan, the outstretched bony wings and protective body exoskeleton of Infested Kerrigan, and the golden eyes and glowing aura of Xel'Naga Kerrigan.

And beside her, smiling softly, stood James Raynor.

"How?" I whispered, not trusting myself to say anything more with my heart thudding a hundred times a second.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," the radiant Kerrigan answered, smirking. "Suffice to say the last year has been quite the adventure for me, filled with interspecies contact, interdimensional travel, and a great deal more book-reading than I'd like to admit."

I blinked and slowing curved my dumbfounded expression into a matching smirk. "You're right, I already don't believe you. You've never read a book as long as I've known you."

Kerrigan nodded, smiling, and Jim stepped forward. "Sarah told this old cowboy about what you did for her," he said, stretching out his hand. "Thanks."

I gingerly took his hand in mine and shaked it, assuring myself he wasn't just a hallucination. "We helped each other," I replied softly. "Is that really you, Jim?"

Jim smiled. "More or less," he offered cryptically.

I frowned a little, but decided now wasn't the time to press the question. I turned back to Kerrigan, hope flaring up in my chest. "Will you two be staying with us? I have so many questions to ask you, and the Zerg could really use your assistance."

Kerrigan shook her head, crushing my hopes back into a dark pit in my chest. "Our movements are limited. Do not ask why," she held up a hand to forestall the question she could telepathically sense coming. "There are dangers out there, in the lifeless rifts between worlds, which are beyond even your capacity to face. If we do our jobs well, you'll never have to. Ouros was right. The infinite cycle must not break. Jim and I will be leaving the Koprulu sector soon, to protect it. I don't know when, or even if, we'll be back. But I wanted to say goodbye. And thanks. For everything."

The pit in my stomach knotted up, and I felt like crying. But I spoke with the dignity of a decorated military officer. "I am sorry to hear that. I pray you will be able to visit again, and provide us with an account of your adventures on our behalf. But if it is not to be, then I wish you both a happy eternity." I paused. "Actually, is Jim immortal too?" I asked, gesturing towards the strikingly Terran man.

"I am," he nodded, and I thought I caught a flash of golden light behind his eyes. Suddenly, he looked behind him. "Hell," he swore, apparently seeing something I couldn't. He turned to Kerrigan and spoke in the Confederate drawl that had once been so familiar to me. "It's about time we were leaving, darling."

Kerrigan nodded, turning back to me. A golden light began to spread out from her. "We wish you a happy eternity as well," she said in an ethereal voice as the light grew overwhelming. "Take care of yourself, Magis."

"You too, Kerr," I said forlornly, lifting a hand to shield my eyes, for though the light was gentle, it was bright.

"Oh, and one last thing," Kerr said as my vision faded to white. "You'll find her on Borea."

I blinked, and the room was back to normal. No golden light, no Kerrigan, no James Raynor. Just an infested room of metal, electronics, and flesh, with the only light coming from some overhead lamps and a paused video game on a backlit monitor.

Was the whole thing some sort of hallucination? I had been working hard lately, and had just been delving deep into my mind and memories. I wished I'd set up a camera - it wouldn't have surprised me if upon checking the recording of the last few minutes I saw only myself with my head in my hands. I'd have to ask Abathur to give me a medical checkup, just in case. Immortal insanity did not sound appealing. Still, the experience had felt so real, and I really wanted to believe that Kerrigan and Raynor were both alive and well. But if what I'd just experienced was genuine, then… well, I thought void energy was confusing, but apparently celestial energy was just ridiculous.

But that last message from Kerr. 'Find her on Borea.' The 'her' had to be Nova, that was the only 'her' I was interested in locating, besides Kerrigan herself. I knew my next mission. One last loose end to tie up. But it'd waited this long, so it could wait a little more. I had a video game to finish.


	61. Sudden Strike

I warped to Borea the next day. When my leviathan arrived, Izsha intercepted transmissions confirming Nova was in a Terran compound on the planet… as was Admiral Matt Horner, who had personally assured me multiple times, very convincingly, that he had no idea where Nova had disappeared to.

I narrowed my eyes in anger. "Send a message to them, Izsha," I said. "Tell them we know they have Nova, and we want to talk."

Izsha did as she was told. This wasn't the original Izsha from the first war nor the second Izsha from the end war. The leviathan I had brought into the Void had been pronounced by the Abathurs to be too damaged by the experience and its design too outdated, and so it had been unloaded, humanely killed, and its biomass recycled. The Izsha onboard had been transferred to the Zerg's enormous sprawling hive cluster on Char, the "capital city" of the budding Zerg civilization, so to speak. The Psi Amplifier was moved with her and she was charged with overseeing the ever-growing Zerg population. The new generation of Leviathans were designed to assist that civilization by providing for safe and fast deep-space voyages and eventual colony-creation. To that end the design called for an Iszha-species zerg and an Abathur-species zerg to be integrated into the ship and oversee all of the Leviathan's functions. The design also called for a broodmother to 'captain' the ship, but on this particular Leviathan, my flagship, the only executive officer was myself.

The Terran complex did not respond to the message. Instead, they sent out a transmission requesting Valerian's aid, which Izsha intercepted, and they readied for battle.

"Fine then," I muttered, frowning. "They want to do this the hard way? I can do this the hard way."

First, I needed to figure out my strategy. The Terran compound had enough missile turrets and other defenses that I couldn't just launch my forces directly into it, at least not without losing a great deal of the relatively small number of forces I had brought on this expedition. But landing on the nearby tundra also had a glaring flaw: the Terran outpost was situated in a valley surrounded by steep cliffs, and the only way to get to the outpost was to march through narrow canyons. I experienced flashbacks to Char's bone trench. But the Terrans wouldn't even need a Gorgon to annihilate an army funneled into these canyons. Some reapers or siege tanks would do.

The Terrans had chosen their outpost location well. Orbital assault too costly and trench runs too dangerous, it was going to take some creative thinking to crack this one. Well, if I couldn't attack by sky or ground, what about underground? Some burrowed roaches or infestors could try to infiltrate… but no, besides the difficulty of avoiding detection, there was the issue that those creatures couldn't very well open doors while burrowed. What I needed was a small covert team that could stealthily infiltrate the facility and extract the target. Ironically, I needed Nova to rescue Nova. But that wasn't an option. I really needed to task Abathur with creating some more effective stealthy zerg units.

I could make a changeling, I supposed, but it wasn't going to get very far without offensive capability. It could scout, though, find a place without detection… yes of course! There was still the obvious underground zerg unit, which I had not used in a long time, since fast ground transportation hadn't exactly been a priority when fighting Amon. If a changeling found a safe area, I could burrow a nydus worm into the enemy base, and my ground forces could swarm in. Excellent.

First, I launched dozens of droppods into the nearby mountains and set about establishing a hive cluster there as a distraction. When I felt sure the Terrans had noticed it, I gave an overseer the order, and it deposited a blob of goo on the ground, which grew arms and crawled through the canyon towards the Terran base. Abathur had actually designed changelings long ago, during the four-year period between wars, but their purpose was purely for reconnaissance, and I'd found little use for scouting in battles where the goal was clear, the enemy known, and I just needed the strategy and forces to accomplish it. Here, though…

The blob crawled forward for quite a while, and finally spotted the enemy before I did. There was a reaper on a nearby cliff, and the changeling immediately stood up and morphed its gelatinous body into well-defined Terran power armor. As long as you didn't touch him or x-ray him, he looked for all the world a normal Terran marine. The reaper, seeing an ally, ignored him, and I watched the disguised zerg through the hivemind as it ran forward through the canyon and into the enemy base.

You'd think someone would have stopped him, but everyone had their hands full preparing for the Zerg invasion, so one more marine running around didn't stick out, especially since he didn't try to enter any of the buildings, just skirt around the outside. Finally, he came to a place nestled in the cliffside out of range of the missile turrets. Exactly what I was looking for.

I gave the order, and the nydus worm began tunneling. Less than a minute later, it popped out of Borea's surface like an explosion and then lowered its gaping maw to the ground, pouring out hundreds of zerglings, roaches, and hydralisks.

The preparing Terrans were not prepared for this. Simply put, my forces wrecked their meager defenses, and then charged throughout the outpost searching for Nova.

But they didn't find her inside the outpost. Many of my forces outside died to an undetected enemy before I drew my attention away from the minions exploring the buildings and realized what was happening. Nova wasn't being held prisoner. She was working with them!

Well, now I really did need an explanation. The ghost had brought a coterie of reapers to assist her, which had presumably been stationed in the canyons previously, so I ordered the bulk of my forces to take care of them. Then I entered the Nydus worm myself.

I flew through and out of the Nydus network and soared towards Nova. "Nova!" I cried out once I'd reached a safe distance. "I'm so glad to see you again! But why are you fighting the zerg? What happened to you?"

She was wearing a visor so I couldn't read her facial expressions, but I noted with some satisfaction that their body was still infested. Then she turned and looked up at me, weapon at the ready. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what are you talking about?"

I blinked. "I... I'm Magis. You don't remember me?" How could she… then I realized. Unlike Kerrigan, she had never undone her ghost conditioning. Even infested, they could still wipe her memory. Well… crap.

"Magis!" she said angrily. "I know you. You'll pay for what you've done. Come down and face me… if you've got the nerve."

I shook my head. "Nova, you have it all wrong! They've been feeding you lies! You and I were friends! How do you think you got that infested body?"

Nova growled. "We are NOT friends! You and your minions kidnapped me, tortured me, infested me! If it hadn't been for the Defenders of M-" she stopped suddenly, unsure of herself.

I sensed an opening and I was starting to put together what had happened to her. "No, Nova!" I shouted. "It was the Defenders of Man who kidnapped you, tortured you, experimented on you." I had no actual idea what the Defenders of Man had done, of course, but this seemed like a reasonable guess. "Then they wiped your memory. You're with the Dominion now, so you must have realized what they were doing and escaped! Come back to the Swarm!"

Nova was quiet, and I risked swooping in closer, first giving orders to my forces to reinforce our attack and infest everyone they could find. "Let me show you the truth!" I urged, as I began telepathically probing at her mental defenses. "Open your mind to the Zerg hivemind, and you'll see. Please."

Nova hesitated, and that was all the opening I needed. I reached in telepathically, trying to covertly deposit an image, communicate a set of sensations and desires, through the hivemind. I wasn't sure if it worked, but suddenly Nova's eyes narrowed and her gun lifted towards me again. "I don't trust you," she said firmly. "I've seen ample evidence that the Zerg have been attacking Terran civilians recently. If you're no friend to the Terrans, then you're no friend to me. Withdraw your forces, leave here now and never attack the Terrans again, and then we can talk about what happened."

Well now, that was quite the ultimatum. I had been attacking stray Terran settlements and convoys, but since I always infested everyone in my attacks, it seemed cruel to stop. But if it meant Nova would trust me again, maybe I could…"

I hesitated. Fortunately, my decision was made for me before I had to choose whether or not to refuse Nova. Unfortunately, it was made by a most unwelcome interruption: a dozen battlecruisers suddenly warped into the skies above the Terran outpost, systematically annihilating every Zerg in sight.

At first I thought Valerian must have come to Horner's aid much faster than Izsha's projections had suggested. But as I glanced with surprise written on my face towards Nova, I realized she was equally surprised.

The lead cruiser sent out a radio broadcast, which I picked up through the hivemind. "The zerg have always been a threat," said a generic but passionate male voice. "And today the emperor's forces have proved they are too weak to protect the people of Borea. But the Defenders of Man are here for you. We will do all we can to safeguard your future."

Ah, so the Defenders of Man had military assets as well. They were proving interesting ideological opponents, committed as they were to defending "man" against the benefits of infestation. It was possible I could have taken their forces with just the minions I had in my Leviathan, but I didn't want to risk it, not when I could escape safely and fight them later with more forces.

"Retreat!" I ordered through the hive mind. I turned to speak to Nova one last time before I went back through the nydus tunnel myself, but I found the ghost had already disappeared. Shoot. I was going to have to track her down _again_? Then I remembered my brief brush with her consciousness when her psionic defenses were weakened.

 _Or maybe she'll come to me..._


	62. Enemy Intelligence

I didn't have to wait long. A couple days later, Izsha informed me that a small Terran force had landed on the edge of Tarsonis City on Tarsonis. Just as I had hoped.

The infested liked to make their homes in the abandoned Confederate structures. I think the Terran architecture comforted them, even as they utilized the resources and minions of the Zerg. A few of them had settled in Tarsonis City, but I'd evacuated them in anticipation of a potential Terran incursion. I had also long since reclaimed any feral zerg still remaining on the doomed Confederate planet.

So when the Terrans landed, they found the ruins abandoned, minus a few overlords floating overhead. They began to deploy small squads to explore the ruins.

Peering through the many eyes of the overlords, I watched their progress carefully. They moved slowly and ignored the overlords, clearly hoping my focus was elsewhere and wary of attracting my attention by attacking the floating behemoths. The spaceship they had arrived in was a sleek model I didn't recognize, but it must have adapted wraith or banshee tech, for it was cloaked. They had evidently hoped they'd be able to sneak in undetected, and they would most likely have succeeded, except Izsha and I were already on alert, watching and waiting for them.

I didn't make my move until an overlord finally spotted Nova, cloaked and moving lightly through the city with a squad of marines. (The overlord, like most of those I had placed over the city, was an old one from the original invasion of Tarsonis, left feral here until I'd reclaimed it. Thus, unknown to the Terrans, it still had the sensory apparatus for detecting cloaked units that Abathur had removed from future generations in order to make overlords more efficient to produce.)

With Nova located, I gave the order, and the Swarm rushed in. Ground forces unburrowed from the creep and unloaded from the overlords, and aerial forces flew in from orbit and the city fringes, all of them swarming towards the small Terran group like bees to their queen.

The Terrans had set up a couple garrisons of a handful of troops each in some ruined city buildings. The hydralisks and mutalisks made short of them, while the rest of my forces made their way towards Nova. I instructed them to attack the Terrans' weaponry, when possible, to disarm them without killing them, though of course in the heat of battle that's not always an option.

The Terrans knew they were done for as soon as the Zerg started swarming, and humans (unlike Zerg) do not fight nearly as well when they know they are going to lose. Nova was the most deadly, though I noted with some surprise that she was using a Terran shotgun again, not her built-in infested weaponry. Perhaps it was symbolic of her rejecting the Zerg part of her current identity. Regardless, even she wielded her shotgun with less precision than she could have at her full potential. Thus, I was able to capture and disarm the Terran band with minimal losses on either side.

When Nova's fancy shotgun had been ripped from her side, transformed into a mere chew toy for the many zerglings that held her and her allies down, I made my approach. I flew in, hovering warily in the air near her, and commanded my zerglings to let her up.

"Welcome home, Nova," I said, smiling and stretching out my arms in a theatrical gesture of welcome.

She stood slowly, proudly. "This was a trap," she said finally. "There never was a Defenders of Man base here."

"I knew you were smart," I said, still smiling. "That's right. I've reclaimed the feral zerg here, so there was no way the Defenders of Man could have built a hidden base here without me knowing and stopping them."

"So the memory…"

"Was fake," I finished. "The Terrans aren't the only ones who can manipulate memories. You're still Zerg enough that I can touch your mind when you're not careful to stop me. I guessed they'd give you a drug or something to try to recover the memories the Defenders of Man stole from you, so I made sure the most readily available buried memory was my own creation. And now you're here!"

"And how does that help you?" Nova retorted. "It's clear to me you're no friend to the Terrans, neither Dominion nor Defenders of Man. I would never aid you!"

I scoffed. "I'm no less Terran than you are, Nova. We're equally infested. Anyway, you're wrong, everything I've done has been in the best interest of the Terrans, whether they recognize that or not. I could spend hours like this debating with you to try to get you to see my point of view and come back to the Zerg family, but you're stubborn and dangerous and don't remember everything, so I think I'll take the easier solution. Abathurs!"

At my call, a dozen or so Abathurs burrowed to my position. They'd already begun infesting the Terrans garrisoned nearby. Now they grabbed Nova and her squad, and set about creating a chrysalis for them.

I was ready to leap into action if Nova attacked, but it seemed she knew when she was beaten. "Of course," Nova said, making no move to resist. "For all your talk of benevolence and family, you're just like any other authoritarian dictator. You take what you want, and to hell with those who oppose you."

I frowned. "That's not fair. All I want is for everyone to be happy. It's not authoritarian dictators per se that are the problem, it's selfish dictators who don't care for all their people, like Arcturus or the leaders of the old Confederacy. Me, I do care. You'll remember that soon."

Nova scowled at me until the morphing chrysalis raised itself high enough to obstruct our view of each other. Then I left the Abathurs to their work.

...

A few lonely days later, an Abathur contacted me to inform me they had finished infesting everyone and rooting around in Nova's mind. I asked if she had resisted, and he answered that she had not, and thus the procedure had been fairly painless, as I had hoped.

I swooped from my Leviathan down to the chrysalis remnants to meet with her. In the background, Abathurs escorted her squadmates to their new lives as immortal infested. Nova was sitting on the side of the road, eyes downcast.

"How are you feeling, Nova?" I asked gently as I approached.

Nova turned to look up at me, her previously scowling face replaced with a sad pensive one. "Your Abathurs did too good a job," she answered flatly. "I remember everything now. Every memory wipe I've ever received, undone. Some things are better off forgotten." She turned back to pondering the pebbles on a destroyed road of Tarsonis city.

I nodded. "I can have the Abathurs make you forget the atrocities you've committed again later if you wish. For now, though, I need you to answer some questions. First, what happened on Korhal? Why did you disappear?"

Nova didn't look up, and didn't say anything for a while. Finally, when I was about to repeat my question, she spoke up. "I was still trying to work through what to think about being Zerg. When it became clear to me you would win the battle for Korhal whether I was there or not, I cloaked myself and went to talk to some of my old friends from the ghost academy. Stone, Delta, Hammer, I thought I could trust them. But instead they incapacitated me and took me to… Colonel Davis. She had me locked up as a monster, experimented on, and then mind-wiped and manipulated into an operative for the Defenders of Man."

She finally looked up at me, sadness in her eyes. "The so-called Defenders don't actually care about man. They sacrificed civilians like pawns for the sake of their political game. All they really want is power. I even overheard one say, shortly before a memory wipe, that if you weren't attacking and infesting Terran holdings yourself they would have used psi emitters to try to force you to do so, so they could save the day and be heroes, nevermind the millions who'd die."

I smiled lightly. "I'm not sure the Defenders have the resources to save the day from the sheer number of my Zerg that would descend on a psi emitter."

Nova just turned back to staring at the road, so I continued more seriously. "It sounds like the Defenders of Man are no more friend to the Terrans than they are to the Zerg. They must be stopped."

Nova nodded, but said nothing more.

"So... " I prompted, "You say Colonel Davis and your ghost friends are working with them?"

"The 'ghost friends' were mind-wiped pawns, just as I was," Nova answered quietly. "We escaped together, but then we had to split up, and I don't know where they went. When I made it to the Dominion, which was my goal since I still believed the lies about you, I asked if they'd been found, but they hadn't been. So they were probably recaptured. And Davis… she isn't just working with them. She's leading them."

I raised my eyebrows at that. "Well, now, she is, is she? In retrospect, I should have guessed that out of all the remaining Terrans with significant resources at their disposal, little Carolina would be the most likely to possess the ambition and daring and downright foolishness necessary to try a stunt like this. I could tell you stories about her behavior in the old Confederacy. I mean, if you thought Duke was bad…." I trailed off. It was clear Nova was not interested in hearing any stories.

I sighed and sat down next to her on the side of the road. "Nova, what's bothering you?"

She didn't reply.

"It's not your friends, you spoke about them too easily. I suspect it's not remembering the atrocities you've committed as a ghost for the Confederacy and the Defenders of Man, you've had plenty of time to process being a murderer. So what's eating you?" She still didn't respond, but I pressed on. "Is it that you're still not sure whether to be Terran or Zerg?"

"Something like that," she muttered.

"Well, as you've probably heard, we defeated Amon, the Zerg and the Protoss working together. The Protoss now have the keystone, but we could probably ask to use it if you still want to go back to being Terran."

Finally, she turned and looked at me. "And you'd be fine with that?" she asked hesitatingly. "You wouldn't feel it a threat to your power?"

I smiled. "No, of course not. Like I've said, all I want is for everyone to be happy. I just think I know better than you what will make you happy. Immortality, instantaneous mental communication, endless drones and zerglings to take care of all the labor… what's not to love about the Zerg? But most of the infested have taken to their new lives more quickly than you. If you truly can't be happy as Zerg, I'll let you go. No matter how much it hurts me."

"Hurts you?" Nova asked, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I, I just," I stammered at first, not expecting that question. Then I cleared my throat and forced myself to return to speaking like a confident general rather than a nervous schoolboy. "I care about you, Nova. I enjoyed our time together. And with Kerrigan having sacrificed herself to stop Amon, this past year has been lonely. Stukov isn't much for companionship, I'm just an authority figure for the other infested, and the Zerg, like Izsha and Abathur, are, well, aliens. They don't think the same way we do. I've missed you, and I was looking forward to having you back."

The slightest hint of a smile played around Nova's lips. Then she sighed. "The truth is… I, I want to be Zerg too," she grimaced as she said it, as though she couldn't bear to admit it to herself. "More than the advantages you mentioned, it's just… I know the Terrans will never stop killing each other. I've seen too much war and death, and I'm tired of it. But the Zerg, the Infested, they never fight amongst themselves. They'd never take a girl and turn her into a weapon to assassinate one another. Right?" she asked, suddenly firmly demanding a response from me.

"Of course not!" I declared, entirely sincerely.

Nova nodded, satisfied. "Then it does seem better to me. But unlike you, I don't want to force it on people, and moreover, you've messed with my head so much I'm not sure if this opinion comes from me finally remembering everything or from you implanting it in my brain."

I smiled. "We don't have the power to implant specific opinions, no need to worry about that. I did tell the Abathurs to try to make you less comfortable with violence," I admitted sheepishly, "At least violence against me, purely for safety reasons, since you seemed pretty upset going in. I don't think that should have affected you this much, though."

Nova frowned and looked towards the now-empty city square. "Yes, now that you mention it I did feel that bit of tinkering within the Chrysalis. I suddenly grew calmer, and yet also more upset at the deaths I've seen and caused. But…" Nova sighed, "I can even remember my childhood clearly," she said softly. "From before the ghost academy ripped me from my parents. I remember that very day in fact, as though it happened yesterday, despite not remembering a thing about it a week ago. And I think the desire to avoid violence, it's not that you implanted it in me, it's that you finally undid the damage the ghost training did to me so long ago. This is more like what I should have been all along."

She turned back to me and her eyes glistened. "But I don't know if that feeling is really me. My mind had just been messed with so much, you know? There are so many different versions of me all in my memories, and not all would have agreed. How can I know what's best for me, when I don't know who I really am?"

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I don't think there is a "you" deep down, somehow underlying all of this, whose opinions are the ones you need to adopt. Everyone changes, and the only question you can answer is whether, to the best of your current ability to tell, you're the sort of person you think you should be. Are you?"

"More or less," Nova answered, leaning against my arm and looking up. "But it's precisely my 'current ability to tell' that I'm questioning. How can I be confident that my ability to tell is good enough when my mind has been messed with so much?"

I nodded. "Fair enough. Well, the only other thing you can take into consideration, besides your own ability, is the ability of others. I think that you are in an good place and that your opinion that you should be Zerg is the correct one, but of course I am biased. Still, I swear to you that I instructed the Abathurs to not modify you any more than to give you your memories back and prevent you from attacking us."

"I see," Nova answered, still staring at the sky. "I don't sense any deception in that claim, so I will trust you for now." She turned back to stare at me, a fierceness in her eyes once more. "So let's make another deal. I will remain Zerg and not resist you and will aid you against the Defenders of Man and other threats to the Infested, and in exchange you will cease all attacks against the Dominion. The remaining Terrans will have the choice whether to join you or not, none will be forced. Do we have a bargain?"

I paused. This was similar to the ultimatum she had offered me on Borea. Was I really willing to agree to let some foolish Terrans die who could have been saved, just to please this woman?

Perhaps I was more selfish than I thought, for I found I was indeed willing. I was already thinking about how I could maximize infestation without the threat of force. I could insist on hospitals informing terminally ill patients that the Zerg could cure them, for example. There was only one real issue…

"Very well, Nova," I said, "I'll agree to your deal, but on two conditions. First, Valerian must agree to make the Dominion a vassal of the Zerg. They must disarm themselves and count on the Zerg to protect them from foreign attacks. I cannot allow the Terrans to grow powerful enough to endanger the infested, since we both acknowledge their violent tendencies. Second, if a Terran does act violently against the Swarm, like the Defenders of Man are doing, than we may forcibly infest that particular Terran for the sake of our safety, and as an alternative to killing them. Does that sound fair?"

Nova hesitated, but finally nodded. "Fair," she said, extending her hand.

I shook it. "Then we've struck an accord. Now… let's go stop Carolina Davis."

…

A/N:

Thank you to everyone who has stuck with this story for this long. As the Zerg's perfect memory recall allows us to bypass half of Covert Ops' missions, only about five chapters remain as we finish Nova's story, and then there will be a long epilogue describing the future of Magis' Zerg and the rest of the Koprulu Sector. I hope to finish the fanfic by Christmas. Please keep favoriting and reviewing. Now that I approach the end, I may return to touch up previous chapters, so all thoughtful advice is welcome! I would love to make this story one of the most popular Starcraft fanfics on the web.


	63. In the Enemy's Shadow

A little bit of investigation revealed that Davis' most likely current location was her private compound on the Terran core world of Vardona, one of only a handful of planets still entirely controlled by Terrans. The compound shouldn't prove too difficult for a ghost operative of Nova's skill with Zerg enhancements to infiltrate. The question then became how we could ensure that Davis would be there and make her as vulnerable as possible. We needed her to be distracted with something important, something that would demand her full attention, and with the UNN reporting on Valerian fleeing from his palace on Korhal in the wake of the political turmoil the Defenders had stirred up, I thought I knew just what would fit the bill.

I instructed one of the infested, whose name was Reigel, to show Nova around the infested armory and let her pick whatever equipment she wanted. Between her natural zerg-given abilities and the infested Terran weaponry, I doubted there was anything Davis could throw at her she wouldn't be able to sneak by or tear through. We planned for her to get into position to insert herself into the sewers beneath Davis' estate and watch the news for my signal.

Meanwhile, I took the Leviathan and warped us towards Valerian's flagship, the _Bucephalus_. It was long past time Valerian and I sat down and chatted about the future of the Terran race.

…

"Emperor Valerian," I announced myself over radio communications as I warped into position over Korhal. "We need to talk."

There was a pause, before Valerian's handsome face, considerably less boyish and more world-weary than when I had seen it last, appeared on screen. "I am not sure now is the best time, Cerebrate," he answered tiredly. "Or do you go by Magis now?"

"Magis," I nodded. "And on the contrary, with the Terrans as weak as they are, squabbling amongst themselves while the Zerg grow ever stronger, I think now is the perfect time to negotiate."

Valerian blinked, then sighed. "Very well, but you must know I am hardly in a position to make promises. I am in fact considering giving the people calling for my removal what they want."

"Ah, now that would be a mistake," I said over the video conference. "For it is likely your successor would be even less friendly to negotiating with the Zerg, and without diplomacy, war will prove the only option. War the Terrans would lose."

"I know," Valerian nodded solemnly. "Between the attacks of the Zerg and of the Protoss armada and of Amon, the Terran Dominion isn't what it once was. So, what is it that you want from me?"

"What I want," I declared with a gleam in my eye, "Is for you to hold a press conference on Vardona and make a public speech. In this speech, I want you to thoroughly explain the situation to your subjects, and then I want you to tell them that the Zerg have offered a conditional truce. If the Terrans will disarm their starships and agree to never challenge the Zerg, the Zerg will agree to cease all hostility against the Terrans and indeed protect Terran lives from foreign invaders such as the Protoss better than the Terran Dominion or the Confederacy ever could. Become a vassal of the Zerg, and I swear the Terrans will be left in peace. Attempts by the Terrans to colonize new planets will have to be negotiated, but so long as the Terrans do not attack the Zerg, the Zerg will no longer attack Terrans. Any Terran who wishes may still submit themselves for infestation, but that will be entirely their choice. That is the deal I offer. Accept it voluntarily, and the transition will be painless as I can make it. Refuse it, and I will force it on you nonetheless, but with a much weaker government left to take care of the survivors."

Having said my piece, I waited for Valerian's answer. He paused, clearly torn between his pride and his rationality. Finally, he said, "Even if I agree, many of people will not."

I nodded. "You speak of the Defenders of Man. Do as I say, and neither of us will have to fear them after today. As for others, they'll lack the power to stop us. And with time, outrage will die down, and answering to the Zerg will simply become part of the Terran status quo."

Valerian closed his eyes, a pained expression coloring his face. He no doubt remembered what Kerrigan and I had done to his father, but also remembered the devastating losses the Dominion had suffered every time he had come into conflict with us in the past. Finally, he looked back at me with steel in his eyes. "It seems you leave me no choice," he answered. "Very well, you will have your press conference."

…

After so much time spent on the battlefield, it was kind of fun to listen to a political speech. It wasn't Artanis' inspiring oratory before battle, which ultimately amounted to so much "Hoo-rah!" cheering, no, this was a clever argument covered with rhetorical flourishes, a thorough explanation gussied up in reassuring language, the sort of speech uttered by a man well educated in the art of personal and political manipulation. Valerian spun the story so it looked like he had made the deal as a way of taking matters into his own hands and stopping the Zerg attacks, that he had conceded to disarm some ships in exchange for ending the Zerg threat forever.

I remembered Arcturus making a similar speech when we retook Korhal from the UED, twisting the facts to make him look like a hero. Unlike with Arcturus, however, I could not resent Valerian for this. He wasn't doing it to preserve personal power, he was doing it to save lives. The more people he could get to agree with the new state of things, the less likely there'd later be rioting or a civil war which the Zerg might have to step in and quell.

Eventually, as we had discussed, he invited me to speak for myself and confirm his words. I wasn't foolish enough to make myself vulnerable by appearing at his side on Vardona's surface. That would be a chance Davis would leap at. But I communicated from the Leviathan, and my face was pasted on televisions and jumbotrons across the planet.

This speech had the largest audience of any I had ever given, and it was impossible not to be at least a little nervous as I took the figurative mic. But the fact of the matter, as I assured myself, was that the judgment of these Terrans did not matter. I was in the right, I was building a glorious new society where all would be as happy as I could make them, and of that I was confident.

So I confirmed Valerian's words and reassured the Terrans of the Zerg's benign intentions. I informed the Terrans that the Queen of Blades was gone, lost in the war against Amon, and implied much of the Zerg's previous violent tendencies had been a result of her leadership. I reminded the Terrans of the role the Zerg had played in defending Sky Shield and Augustgrad, and indeed of defending all of mankind from Amon. I reiterated that the Zerg thought of infestation as a great boon to the lives of all that underwent it. I downplayed the recent attacks as the result of a benevolent but misguided intention to share this boon, and suggested that Valerian had convinced me that infestation by force was not the way. And so on and so forth.

The reporters had many questions for the both of us, several of which asked about our plans for the Defenders of Man, and we answered their questions to the best of our abilities. Finally, an exhausting few hours later, Nova contacted me and informed me that she had the general in custody.

"If I may return to a question asked earlier," I said, interrupting an interrogation about whether the Zerg would be expecting any sort of resource tribute in exchange for protection (we wouldn't), "I am happy to announce that my declaration that the leader of the Defenders of Man would soon be made to capitulate to these arrangements has come to pass."

Many of the Terrans listening began to murmur after that announcement.

I patched Nova in to the broadcast. She had commandeered a camera in Davis' office, and now the screen showed her standing beside Davis with a knife to her throat. She'd already forced Davis to command her security force to stand down, and I had zerg reinforcements on the way, just in case.

"Carolina," I said, purposely disrespectful, "I'm so glad you could join us. I understand we have you to thank for the Defenders of Man's movements against us."

Davis stared unflinchingly into the camera. She showed courage even with a knife at her throat, I had to give her that much. "The Terrans will never bow to monsters like you," she declared firmly.

"I wouldn't ask them to," I replied smoothly. "But I would ask them not to attack us. Your forces have attacked us and would do so again, even against the wishes of your government. Thus, you must be stopped."

"Get on with it then," she declared, lifting her chin and baring her neck to Nova's blade.

I shook my head. "We fought together against Amon to save Terran lives, Carolina," I responded, "It would be dishonorable to execute you now. Besides, you've also committed crimes against the Terran throne. Therefore, as a show of good faith, and of our attempt to do right by the Terran people, the Zerg will not execute you, but will rather remand you to Dominion custody. We will let the Terrans deal with Terrans."

"Thank you," said Valerian. I had informed him earlier of Davis' status as his political enemy. He had a hard time believing it, as Davis had been a trusted general. But now the truth was clear. "I am sending a force to collect her as we speak, and I look forward to announcing her trial date," he announced.

More reporters' hands shot up, and it looked like everything was going to go according to plan.

Then the Tal'Darim attacked.


	64. Dark Skies

As the Tal'Darim death fleet warped into orbit, Alarak suddenly inserted himself into our video conference, his cruel sneering face plastered on all the televisions and jumbotrons of Vardona. "Ah, so this is where the Defenders of Man and their leader have hidden. The Tal'Darim will wipe you from the face of this world!"

I recovered quickly from my shock. "Alarak, what are you doing? Why do you care about these Terrans?"

Alarak turned to regard me as though I were a mere buzzing insect. "Why, these so called Defenders interfered in a Tal'Darim endeavor, and such an insult cannot stand. When your little broadcast informed me of the location of their leader, I chose to act. Abandon these Terrans now, or you shall share their fate."

I looked out the window of my Leviathan, watching as the Tal'Darim death fleet descended upon the city where Davis was being captured. The crystals in their void rays thrummed with excess energy, seemingly eager to unleash their destructive powers upon an innocent planet.

My eyes snapped back to Alarak. "It is clear you do not intend to kill Defenders only, but to attack indiscriminately," I said, putting a little theatricality in my voice as I remembered I was on camera. Actually, now that I thought about it, if I played my cards right, this little incident could do wonders for my reputation among the Terran public. "This I will not allow. This world, and all Terran worlds, are now under my protection. Turn back now, air your grievances in a Terran court instead, and we remain allies who stood together against the evil of Amon and won. But persist in your destructive course, and you will find in me a powerful enemy."

Alarak merely chuckled darkly. "Your hubris is quite entertaining. Interfere with our efforts here, and the Tal'Darim will come for you next."

Alarak ended his broadcast, and Valerian and I shared a look of determination. "Scramble whatever forces you wish, Emperor, and evacuate your civilians. The Zerg fleet will warp here within minutes, and in the meantime I will engage the Protoss. The Zerg honor their agreement."

Valerian nodded, and turned to say some final inspiring words to his audience. I disconnected from the conference, and immediately began giving orders and planning strategy.

At my behest, Nova, having seen Davis safely into Dominion custody, led a group of grounded zerg I quickly sent in via droppod in defending the city streets, where Tal'Darim units began to roam, slaughtering all in their way.

Confident she could hold the line against their ground invasion force in those narrow streets, I then directed my attention solely to the naval battle. That was where the true action would be.

Having already called for reinforcements from the rest of the Zerg fleet, I deployed the mutalisks and scourge and corruptors from the belly of my Leviathan, and directed them all towards the invading Tal'Darim force.

The Tal'Darim had swept in low, intending to raze the city holding Davis' estate, so my forces met them in the planet's atmosphere. An enormous sprawling dogfight quickly commenced hundreds of thousands of feet above the ground.

Right away, crumpled void ray parts and the ripped flesh of spacefaring Zerg began to rain down upon the city, as scourge and mutalisks met the Protoss starships in battle and destroyed one another.

Even with only a single Leviathan's worth of units, we Zerg had the numerical advantage. But Tal'Darim starships were built for incredible destructive power, and their death beams increased in strength and in the number of targets they could arc between the longer they continued channelling those beams. The aggressive Tal'Darim nullified that numerical advantage by killing a dozen zerg for every void ray that fell.

And then there was their mothership. That behemoth of a starship hovered in low orbit cloaking every void ray below and around it and annihilating every Zerg that wandered near it with its endless barrage of lasers and vortexes.

I didn't have the forces to contest the mothership. Maybe with Valerian's help I would have. The majority of the Terran fleet was still at Korhal, but there were enough battlecruisers stationed around Vardona, and even a couple nearby that were Gorgon-class, that we could have posed a significant threat to the capital ship. But that would mean sharing some of the glory of the Tal'Darim defeat with the Terrans. Considering my whole goal was to get the Terrans to disarm themselves and rely on Zerg protection, the best thing to do, reputation-wise, was clearly to defeat the Tal'Darim without significant Terran assistance.

So when Valerian asked, I told him to use his cruisers and Gorgons solely to cover for escaping evacuees. Letting thousands of citizens die wouldn't do wonders for my reputation either, and anyway, I wasn't heartless: I didn't want my political maneuvering to come at the cost of lives that might have been saved.

So I fought in the sky to keep the Protoss starships from descending upon the city, and Nova and Valerian fought on the ground to keep the Tal'Darim soldiers from killing the innocent.

As far as I could tell from overheard transmissions, it seemed many of Davis' nearby forces in the Defenders of Man had chosen to assist Valerian and Nova in the protecting the city. Good. Hopefully fighting alongside Zerg would help them trust us, even begrudgingly, and prevent them from simply replacing Davis with a new leader and continuing their campaign against the Zerg and Valerian's diplomatic leadership.

The battle raged across and above the city for what felt like a very long time. Eventually, it grew clear the Tal'Darim were winning. My Zerg were falling from the sky much faster than their starships, and Nova and Valerian's defensive perimeter had been beaten back multiple times, with many evacuated facilities destroyed.

But both Char and Vardona had once been Confederate core worlds: the warp time between the two was actually only a handful of minutes, at least at the speeds Leviathans could travel.

The Tal'Darim sensed when my fleet arrived, dozens of Leviathans, each containing an army unto itself. I expected their death fleet to retreat as a result, and was happily considering whether to pursue them, when I realized that they did not retreat. Instead, when they sensed the arrival of my fleet, they punched their way through the tattered remnants of my aerial defenders and descended upon the city. The mothership and dozens of Tal'Darim void rays opened fire, annihilating abandoned structures on their way towards Nova's forces and Valerian's soldiers and the captured Davis and the defending Defenders of Man.

"Full speed!" I cried out to the Leviathans, recognizing that time was of the essence. "Deploy every scourge you have!" As the fastest zerg flier, both in travel time and destruction time, they were the obvious choice, even given the enormous cost in resources of losing so many suicide-bombers. Enough scourge descended upon Vardona to blot out the sun from the perspective of its Terran defenders. They fell screeching from the sky as they swarmed in to meet the Protoss fleet.

The Protoss fleet had only just engaged, and began to tear apart, Nova and Valerian's forces when the scourge arrived. With the death beams of the Tal'Darim void rays as fully charged as they were, hundreds of scourge fell before ever approaching a Protoss ship, and hundreds more were destroyed before they could collide with the mothership that cloaked the void rays from their gaze. Then a dozen scourge punctured that mothership with explosive force from every direction, destroying it and its cloaking field, and hundreds more scourge crashed into the rest of the now visible Tal'Darim ships. Finally, a shower of Protoss parts and Zerg flesh descended on Vardona's defenders. It was all over in seconds.

The Terrans pumped their fists and cheered as I recalled the surviving scourge back to the Leviathans. Yes, this display of extreme power, saving everyone at the most dramatic moment, just before the evacuating civilians would have been massacred, would do much to foster Terran acceptance of Zerg protection. I smiled at my victory, already planning my next moves. I wondered if Alarak himself was on that mothership. Doubtful, he seemed the type to send his followers on suicide missions without ever undertaking one himself. With the Terrans pacified, Artanis' Daelaam allied with, and Amon dead, Alarak and the Tal'Darim were clearly the greatest remaining threat to peace in the Koprulu sector.

But before I could ruminate further on plans for the hyper aggressive Protoss, Nova contacted me, wearing a frown instead of the victorious smile I had expected. "Bad news, Magis," she said to me.

"What?" I asked, a dozen worries darting through my thoughts.

"In all the chaos… Davis escaped."

...

After working with Valerian to record a political message for the Terran news agencies crediting the Zerg for the defense of Vardona and reaffirming our commitment to our deal, Valerian, Nova and I switched to a private video conference to discuss Davis' escape.

"How did it happen?" I began, directing the question at Valerian.

"We brought her aboard _The Medusa,_ a small battlecruiser, to hold her prisoner during the battle, but it seems there must have been Defenders of Man sympathizers among the crew. There was a mutiny, Davis was freed and assumed command. She warped away."

I shook my head. Making sure prisoners are kept away from people who might free them is priority number two of keeping prisoners imprisoned, after restraining the prisoners themselves. It was disappointing that the Terrans failed at something so basic. But I supposed it was more difficult to root out treasonous sensibilities in Terrans than in Zerg, seeing as how Zerg didn't have to deal with any such disloyalty. Regardless, our next step was clear. "So we'll have to track down this battlecruiser and bring her back for her trial."

"Trial?" Nova spoke up, an ugly glint in her eyes. "What's to stop her from escaping again? There's only one way to stop her."

Nova's bloodthirst took me aback. She'd been so concerned with Terran lives, why was she suddenly so… ah, that's right. Davis was responsible for kidnapping her and wiping her memories. Of course Nova would want payback. She was more like Kerrigan than either of us would like to admit.

"No," Valerian said sadly but firmly. "I have publicly declared that Davis is to stand trial in a court of law. If the Zerg are to be trusted, not just feared, we have to show that they will respect our leadership and laws, and not just kill anyone they don't like."

"I agree," I put in. "Though I wonder if we shouldn't just infest her. It would be a suitable punishment for one whose crimes were motivated by fear of the Zerg and infestation. Though being punished with immortality is a strange thought. But once she's infested she should realize she was wrong about us." Seeing Valerian's grimace, I added, "This would happen after the trial, of course. Though we'd have to spin it in such a way that the people don't think infestation is some terrible punishment to be feared."

"I'll… consider it," Valerian conceded.

Nova nodded, apparently satisfied. "How do we start searching for her?" she asked.

As if on cue, I felt the prickling of a telepathic alert. "Cerebrate Magis," Warfield reported with military restraint. "A massive Terran war machine has descended upon Char and is destroying our hive cluster. Izsha and I can do nothing to stop it; it's taking all we have just to evacuate some of the endangered infested. We need our fleet back."

I replied quickly ("Understood, on our way"), and interrupted Valerian, who was listing possible destinations for Davis' ship. "Actually, I know exactly where she is."

"Where?" Nova demanded, while Valerian looked at me quizzically.

"Char. She means to inflict as much damage upon the Zerg as possible before we can take her in."


	65. End Game

I warped my forces back to Char as quickly as I could, stretching my senses out to my hive cluster to see what they saw as soon as I got in range. Through the eyes of fleeing overlords and panicking queens, I perceived a enormous Terran machine floating over the volcanic wasteland, much larger than even the largest Thor I'd ever seen. As I watched, I counted at least five different weapon systems firing on my hive cluster from the massive mech: blaster fire, railgun rounds, flamethrower blasts, missile bombardments, and independent strike fighter launches.

"Valerian, what the hell is this thing?" I demanded, shooting a vidconference radio message across warpspace to him and providing him with an image of the machine taken from my memory.

Valerian's eyes grew wide as saucers, a rather unflattering look on the pretty emperor's face. "That… is the Xanthos. It's a prototype war machine that's been in development since the failure of the Odin project years ago. Only the highest ranked officials, and those directly responsible for engineering and constructing it, knew about its existence. But I was told it wouldn't be remotely functional for years yet…" his face contorted into a disappointed frown, "by General Davis."

"Well it's functional enough to wreck my hive cluster now," I replied, shaking my head. "You don't have any other surprise 'prototypes' you'd like to let us know about before we engage this Xanthos?"

"If I thought I had doomsday weapons capable of giving you trouble, do you think I'd have agreed to disarm them and ally with you?" Valerian answered tiredly.

"Fine," I responded, the sense of urgency growing as I watched the Xanthos destroy yet another hatchery. "Then what can you tell me about how to stop this thing?"

"It's been some time since I examined its specifications, but from what I remember, the Xanthos features armor plating made of the strongest alloys known to Terrans, capable of repelling everything from Terran bullets and lasers to your spines and acid. However, unless the engineers managed to fix this problem, the weapon delivery systems had to be made of much more vulnerable alloys, so you can target the weapons to disable the Xanthos. If you do, it'll have to retreat and initiate self-repair routines. That's all I know about it."

I nodded. "Very helpful, thank you," and terminated the transmission. "Nova," I said, turning to her. "Take command of our ground forces below and try to destroy the Xanthos' weapons. I'll take the fleet and try to hold its attention."

"Understood," Nova said simply, her eyes burning with psionic intensity. She turned and marched towards the droppods.

I turned my attention to the fleet and commanded everything nearby to fly towards the Xanthos. The mech had already destroyed much of our primary hive cluster, whole districts of our Zerg metropolis wiped out. It was likely that more than a few of the infested had failed to evacuate in time. I would stop Davis from quite literally threatening all I held dear, and would ensure she faced justice for her appalling murder of innocent immortals. This I swore to myself, and to the spirits of both the living and the lost.

...

My fleet swooped down upon the hovering mech, but it quickly became clear that defeating it in a drawn out battle would be way too costly if it were even possible. Mutalisks and scourge could not even get in range of the thing before they were torn apart by missiles, lasers, and strike fighters. I kept them out of range of the Xanthos and set them about trying to destroy any strike fighters that strayed too far from their protective mech. Corruptors, devourers, and the few Leviathans at my disposal were far more useful. I instructed the corruptors and devourers to target the weapon deployment systems and weaken the metals with their corrosive acids, but even with their long range it was all I could do to keep them from getting annihilated by the Xanthos every time they flew by for an acid barrage.

I used the Leviathans, including my own, to attract the Xanthos' primary attention, but even keeping them out of the range of the flamethrowers, the Xanthos' missiles and lasers did more damage to the tanky creatures than my queens could outheal. The flesh of the Leviathans began to crack and bleed under the weight of the bombardments. I tried to rotate them out, attracting the Xanthos' attention to a new Leviathan and give the one that had been in the fight time to repair itself, but the Xanthos was quite intent on pursuing weakened quarry, and it took some doing to save damaged Leviathans from destruction. I called for aid from other Leviathans, but they were mostly in the control of broodmothers overseeing distant planets, so unless the battle lasted for hours I'd have to make due with the few I had.

Thankfully, I didn't have to defeat the Xanthos, just distract it. While its weapons focused on my fliers, Nova and a bunch of hydralisks and ravagers and a couple old defilers and brutalisks all snuck in under the Xanthos' defenses and began launching volleys of spines and acid spit at the weapon delivery systems. The missile bays collapsed before Davis or whoever piloted the Xanthos realized what was happening and tried to retreat. As the Xanthos began lifting back into orbit, Nova's forces managed to destroy the hanger bay and several of the laser batteries as well. I pulled my fleet back as the Xanthos docked in an enormous orbital platform they must have warped to Char and which was guarded by a dozen battlecruisers and many other spaceships, presumably for repairs.

This was going to be rough. I briefly considered requesting help from the Terrans. Horner's flagship, the Hyperion, would prove very helpful for punching through the defensive lines of the Defenders of Man. But if I couldn't do this on my own, I couldn't pretend to declare myself sole protector of the Terran civilization. I had enough forces scattered around, I should win eventually. It was just a question of how many casualties the Zerg would suffer before reinforcements arrived.

With the Xanthos out of action for the moment and me lacking the firepower to destroy it while it repaired, I took the opportunity to regroup and recover my own forces. Nova and I oversaw the evacuation of the remaining infested in the sprawling hive cluster, instructed queens to expend all their energy transfusing our forces, and began morphing hundreds more minions from our surviving hatcheries to replace minions killed. The resource-rich plateau I had constructed the Zerg's "capital" hive cluster upon had not yet fully depleted its mineral fields and vespene gas assimilators, but there were still many extra drones lying burrowed around from when the local mining economy had seen better days, so I ordered many of them to begin morphing into spore crawlers.

I would have liked more time to prepare, but Davis had to know that she was done for once I morphed enough forces or received enough reinforcements, because she wasted no time returning to her assault. It was incredible how quickly her technicians were able to repair collapsed missile bays.

Round two began with insufficient preparation, the Xanthos ripping through my half-morphed spore crawlers and half-healed fliers. Davis had also wisened up to my tricks, as when I moved my Leviathans nearby, she ignored them in favor of concentrating her weapons fire on Nova's forces below. My Leviathans were able to get close and begin punching into the Xanthos' weapon bays with their enormous tentacles, but the Xanthos kept moving around trying to stay out of our reach while its missiles and strike fighters wreaked havoc among my forces.

It was a grueling battle with many casualties, but the Zerg, as ever, had numbers on their side. Finally, enough acid and spines and tentacles had pierced the Xanthos' weapon bays that the Xanthos was forced to retreat once more. A ceasefire paid for by a river of Zerg blood.

I kept ordering more and more reinforcements, morphing minions from hatcheries all over Char and ferrying them to the battleground in overlords and nydus worms. Enough time had passed that broodmothers from nearby planets like Tarsonis had begun to arrive, bringing with them their Leviathans full of additional units. I resumed the morphing of spore crawlers and the healing of damaged forces, and began gathering and positioning my forces for the next battle.

As we had destroyed more weapon bays, it took a little longer for the Xanthos to return to the hive cluster. It touched down in a different area of the hive cluster, one with fewer defenses and more structures left to destroy. If Davis were just interested in killing Zerg, she probably should have warped away entirely at this point, perhaps descending on my now relatively undefended hive clusters on Tarsonis. She could have engaged in such hit-and-run tactics for some time before I could bring enough forces to bear to stop her superweapon. The fact that she persisted in attacking Char's "capital" hive cluster suggested to me that her goal wasn't just to kill Zerg but also to build a narrative for herself. I suspected she wanted to go down in history as the woman who heroically stood against the center of Zerg power, a legendary martyr around whom the remaining Terrans could rally in resistance against my rule. Well, that was of no consequence to me; once she was publicly denouncing her earlier actions as one of my infested, her name couldn't be the pure symbol she wanted it to be.

Having more forces at my disposal, I broke the Xanthos' weapon delivery systems faster in round three. Still not fast enough to prevent large swaths of the hive cluster from going up in smoke, however, but the casualties could have been much worse. This time, when the Xanthos retreated to repair, I pursued. I had swarms of reinforcing mutalisks and scourge, fleets of fresh corruptors and devourers, and I threw them all at the Defenders of Man orbital platform.

The Defenders' many battlecruisers, vikings, and wraiths held the line admirably. It takes a certain kind of courage to not break ranks and flee in the face of an unrelenting swarm of aliens. Or perhaps in this case, it was less courage and more fanaticism. At any rate, when the starships began exploding under the weight of our assault, I assumed the battle was as good as won.

Then the Xanthos activated a new weapons system. We hadn't destroyed it because we didn't know it existed, so while the rest of the Xanthos' weaponry needed repairs, this one was free to fire on our forces, which had positioned themselves much too close to the Xanthos on the assumption that it was now harmless.

Enormous laser beams emanated from the Xanthos' limbs, slicing clean through metal and chitin alike as easily as though it were passing through air. These were not mere laser blasts such as a battlecruiser might fire. These were arcs of pure destruction, easily as deadly to whatever stood in its burning path as the Spear of Adun's purifier beam. Dozens of zerg fell in flaming pieces within seconds of this superweapon's activation.

After a moment of surprise while I processed what I had just witnessed, I quickly ordered the slow-moving fliers like leviathans to retreat. Not even their immensely chitinous hide could withstand the Xanthos' new firepower for long. The mutalisks and scourge remained, and I ordered them to move quickly and erratically in an effort to dodge the relatively slow-moving laser beams. I ordered them to finish off any remaining nearby Terran starships, and then turn their attention to the protrusions from which the Xanthos generated its death beams.

It took many, many waves of mutalisks and scourge to finally start breaking the Xanthos' laser emitters. Only so many fliers could approach the mech at a time, and only so many of those could actually reach its vulnerable components before getting bisected by the swinging arcs of concentrated fire. But I had so many waves to throw at it, and I kept receiving more reinforcements from across Char and beyond every few minutes. It took much longer with much greater costs than I would have liked, but the final laser emitter was finally too heavily damaged to function. I would have loved to play it safe and back off after that, but I knew Davis' crew was already working as hard as they could to repair its damaged weapon systems.

So I ordered Nova into an overlord and got in one myself, and met her along with a bunch of other units inside the Xanthos' strike fighter hangar bay, which contained the one hole we could punch through the Xanthos' ridiculously strong armor. We rushed through the tunnels winding throughout the giant mech, incapacitating for infestation everyone we safely could, and killing any armed foes we couldn't incapacitate. We made our way to the Xanthos' bridge and used acid attacks to melt the locked door. We burst in, and found ourselves face to face with Davis. Alone, unarmed, unarmored.

She turned to face us, assuming a proud military stance with hands clasped behind her back. "November Terra," she said calmly, inclining her head towards Nova. "I knew your family when you were a child. We were all part of the same circles back then. The same side."

"The past doesn't matter," Nova retorted blithely.

Davis inclined her head towards me. "And you, respected general turned disgraced magistrate turned damnable traitor. We also once worked together to safeguard humanity. Then you destroyed Tarsonis."

I stared intently at Davis. "We worked together to defend a corrupt government that needed to be overthrown, Davis. If you truly wished to safeguard humanity, you should have joined us, like General Duke did. But it's not too late. Join us and we can work together to save Terran souls at the mere 'cost' of improving Terran bodies."

Davis shook her head. "The terrifying thing is that you genuinely believe that you are helping us by transforming us into abominations." She held her head high. "I have made mistakes, but refusing to join you was never one of them. You think you're doing the right thing, but you just enjoy the feeling of playing God with people's lives. Still, I accept my defeat with dignity. Go on, then. Infest me. Kill me and replace me with a lookalike alien creature. Prove that you are every bit the monster I believe you to be. I will say no more."

Nova raised an arm, and I sensed her spike delivery organs priming to fire. "Go to hell," she spat out cruelly.

"Nova, no!" I shouted, swinging my arm out to knock her hand away.

I was too late, Nova fired, and an immense spike hurtled out of her arm and pierced Davis' skull, killing her instantly.


	66. Resolutions

"Nova, why would you do that?" I rounded on her, glaring furiously. "You knew I wanted to infest her."

"I refuse to share a hive-mind with her," Nova answered angrily, and I softened as I was suddenly reminded of the time Kerrigan said something similar about Mengsk. "You didn't experience what I did, when I was under her control. I remember everything she wiped from my memory. She doesn't deserve immortality."

I shook my head, glancing back at Davis' fallen body. "That is not for you to decide. Infestation offers a second chance, even people who deserve death will become good people under the influence of the hivemind. She was right in that there is a sense in which her old self dies and is replaced, but it's replaced with a much better creature, not an abomination." I sighed. "Well, enough of her cells should still be alive that I think Abathur can still infest her like he did Stukov."

"If you do, we're done," Nova replied, seething with rage. I peered at her quizzically. She was practically shivering from the effort of containing her wrath. What had happened to her under Davis? I already knew that Davis didn't consider the infested to be people… maybe I didn't want to know what had happened to her.

I took a deep breath and stepped over to Nova, placing my hands calmingly on her shoulders and peering into the fire in her eyes. "You really feel that strongly about this?" I asked quietly.

"Yes," she answered firmly, meeting my gaze.

I nodded. "Then I will let her die. I've let better than her die to save on time and resources. I'll let her die to save our relationship. But the loss of a potential immortal is no trivial thing. If she dies to preserve our relationship, I want you to honor that, to care about preserving our relationship, throughout eternity."

Nova smirked despite herself. "Is that a proposal, Magis?"

I blinked, confused, before I finally figured out what she meant. My eyes widened and I felt a sudden disorienting loss of control as I stepped back from her. "Nn- no," I stammered. "I mean, not that I would be opposed to that idea, necessarily, it's just that's not what I meant…"

"Relax," Nova ordered softly. "I'm a telepath who shares a hivemind with you. You do a fair job hiding your feelings even from yourself, but ultimately you can't hide them from me, so we don't need to do this dance."

Trying to regain control of myself and of the conversation, I nodded. "Well, then," I said haltingly, stealing a glance at Davis' corpse. "These aren't exactly the circumstances I would have imagined, but I suppose it's best to formally confess what you already know, rather than continuing to dance around it. I very much enjoy your company, Nova. I think you're refreshingly direct, incredibly competent, and, well, aesthetically pleasing. I missed you greatly when you were missing and I never want you to leave my presence again. Would you agree to remain by my side throughout eternity as my consort?" I tried not to show my nervousness as I asked the question, but I knew Nova could sense it anyway.

Nova smiled and shook her head in amusement. "You never married as a Terran, did you, Magis?"

I blinked. That was not the response i was expecting. "Well, no. I had my share of romantic attachments, but those did not often last long in my line of work. A rather similar problem to your own as a ghost, I suspect."

Nova smirked. "I thought as much. You're, what, twice my age? And yet you still manage to be nearly as awkward about this as a teenage boy. You mask it well, but there's a clear difference between when you're truly confident, which is just about every other situation I've seen you in, and when you're trying to hide your emotional vulnerability as a lonely old man behind a mere mask of confidence."

I took a step back involuntarily. "'Lonely old man'?" I repeated. "That seems… harsh."

"You did say you appreciated my directness," Nova pointed out, the rage in her eyes now fully replaced by mirth.

I pursed my lips, then chuckled. "Well, that I did. In any case, one nice feature of immortality is I will not be double your age for long. Give it a hundred years, or even a thousand, and we'll seem very close in age indeed. And I want to face eternity with someone I care about at my side. It's not a marriage proposal, exactly, the Zerg are too different from Terrans for such Terran institutions to apply. And so I ask you again…" I tried to push away from my nervousness and speak with my usual genuine confidence, "Will you be my consort?"

Nova stared at the floor for a moment, not responding. Then she glanced at Davis' body, still lying crumpled on the floor, clean except for the dribble of blood oozing out of her skull. "I suppose… with Davis dead and Amon defeated, I finally need to decide what I want out of life. You know my life has never been in my own control," she turned back towards me, an intense gleam in her eyes. "Just a weapon for the Confederacy, then the Dominion, then you, then Davis. But I think I know you well enough now to be confident that if I told you no and said I wanted nothing more to do with the Zerg, you'd let me go. Right?" She tilted her head and glared at me accusingly.

"Of course," I answered, sadly but entirely sincerely.

"Then," Nova said, her expression perking up, "For the first time in my life my fate is completely within my control. And when I reflect on my desires, I find that I am sick of the Terrans. Don't get me wrong, I'm still holding you to our deal: no infesting the unwilling. Many Terrans are good people, and they have a right to make their own choices as surely as I do. But I'm tired of so many of them making choices to abuse me and others who cannot defend themselves. Davis may have been right that us infested are abominations… but at least we're abominations who treat one another with respect."

She sighed. "So I don't want to go back to being a weapon for Valerian, whom you control now anyway, and I don't want to try to blend in with the common Terrans, who fight amongst themselves, and I don't want to strike off on my own and live the sad life of a lonely pariah. The idea of offing myself so I don't have to deal with this painful existence anymore is more tempting than I'd like to admit, I sometimes find myself wishing you'd just killed me back on Char or Umoja, but ultimately I know I'm not far gone enough to take such terrible thoughts seriously. I'm a survivor and a professional, that much stays true throughout my disjointed memories of myself, and I won't give up when there's another option available. And there is one other option available: yours. Stay with the Zerg, help them conquer the universe and subjugate my people. I have my misgivings about that option too, but I can't deny I'm curious enough about it to give it a chance. Besides, someone has to keep you in line." She smirked at me. "I can tell, you're the type of person to get funny ideas in your head as you get older and more powerful. You need an equal who can keep you in check, who can tell you when your funny ideas are wrong-headed or morally appalling. And with Kerrigan gone, there's no one better positioned for that than me." She trailed off and stared into the distance.

"So does that mean you accept?" I pressed after a brief pause, still processing her long soliloquy.

She sighed. "Given the options available to me, and the way this sector's history has played out…" she paused and turned to look me in the eyes. "Yes, I accept. I'll stay by your side as your 'consort', so long as I continue to believe that you are a good man who ultimately wants what's best for the Terrans and the Infested and will listen to my advice on how to treat them."

I nodded, smiling as the worry evaporated, replaced with a feeling of barely-contained glee. "I would have it no other way. Thank you, Nova."

I glanced back at Davis, thinking one last time about how I could save her, I could make her see the truth, I could prevent her from being seen as a martyr, it would all be as simple as ordering an Abathur in. But I would give all that up for the sake of my relationship with Nova. It tormented me; I wasn't sure if that was the right choice or the selfish one. But the best thing for the new Zerg order would be to have a strong benevolent leader in control of the Overmind command signal, and the best thing for ensuring that that leader ruled wisely would be for that leader to be as psychologically healthy as possible with as many advisors as possible. So this choice, too, was for the greater good, or at least that was how I justified it to myself.

I tore my eyes away and marched towards the exit, determination written on my face. "Now then, we've been talking a while and I am sure the others are anxious to hear of our results. Let's return to the hive cluster and set about repairing the damage."

"Gladly," Nova answered, and she marched down the Xanthos' corridors after me.

...

As an effort to damage zerg holdings, the Xanthos' incursion was wildly successful. When the losses were converted to their worth in raw resources, the Defenders of Man destroyed hundreds of millions of units of minerals and vespene gas, more than were lost in our recent campaign on Aiur. Worst of all, I discovered that the second Izsha, the one we had used throughout the second war and who had recently overseen zerg efforts sector-wide, had been killed in Xanthos' initial bombardments of the central hive. I'd never had a close relationship with her, but I still felt the loss of one of the few remaining intelligent Zerg who'd fought against Amon alongside me.

But as an effort to curtail Zerg growth and inspire the rest of the Terrans to fight back, Davis' attack failed miserably. A new Izsha specially designed by the Abathurs for hivemind-wide administration took the place of the old one, Zerg forces continued spreading across the sector and quickly harvested replacement resources, and Valerian worked begrudgingly with me to ensure the Terran news reported Davis in an unfavorable light. Within a week, Lockwell was reporting that polls showed most Terrans felt we were justified in killing Davis. Those who disagreed were mostly smart enough not to make their opinion widely known. Whether the Terrans liked it or not, the Zerg were now the dominant power in the Koprulu sector.

And so we remained. The defeat of the Defenders of Man marked the end of the last great threat to Zerg-kind, though even their threat paled in comparison to Amon's. The Swarm was forged in the fire and blood of these early years, and even as eternity unfurled before us we never forgot our original tribulations. As a result, we avoided the fate that befalls every powerful Terran government eventually, that of dulling with time, of growing lax and corrupt and eventually collapsing. The Zerg maintained their edge, and we used it to cut down every new enemy we faced over the centuries.

As for me, with Nova at my side, the Terrans subjugated, and the Protoss made allies, nothing stood in my way as I aggressively expanded Zerg holdings throughout the Koprulu sector and beyond. Thus, the age of the infested began.

As I write this, a few hundred years have passed since the events recorded in this tale. The Zerg live in a time of peace, raising new generations of infested and living happily in the many planets under Zerg control. With no pressing issues demanding my attention, I decided to record a complete accounting of how our infested utopia originally came to be. This file has been saved in both text formats for easy access by uninfested Terran technology and as a series of memories for the Infested to access through the hivemind. I also intend to send a copy to the Protoss for them to preserve in their own crystalline data storage mechanisms. Doubtless this accounting will be poured over by historians and tacticians of all three races, and perhaps of more races yet to be discovered, for millions of years to come, so I have endeavoured to be as thorough as possible concerning my relationships and battles. If there is anything I have omitted… well, I hope to live forever, so get in contact with me and I will answer whatever questions I can. But if tragedy takes me, at least this account will survive.

Oh, and let me address one question I imagine many will be curious about. There is a reason I never divulged my original Terran name. It was actually mentioned a few times during the events depicted in this story, such as by Davis during that last encounter, but I rewrote such references to avoid recording my old name (not to worry, future historians, I otherwise endeavoured to match my writing as closely to my photographically accurate memories as possible). The reason why is that I am a symbol now to the legions of infested I lead. They think of me with titles, as "The Eternal Magistrate" or "The Final Overmind" or other such inventive descriptions. I rather think it's helpful for them to think of me in such terms, as it's easier to lead those who think of you as special and above them than those who think of you as just another infested Terran with a Terran name, same as them. So I will allow my original name to be lost to time. It is of no consequence anyway, just a reminder of the bad times when Terrans families warred amongst themselves and fell ill and died, before the age of infestation.

That is all I have to say. At long last, the Confederacy, the Overmind, the UED, Amon, Davis, and every other serious threat to peace in the Koprulu sector is no more. Few of those who knew Kerrigan still live, but she is slowly passing into legend as the savior who ascended to godhood and saved the galaxy from the greatest threat it has ever known. The denizens of the Koprulu sector rebuilt, recovered, and expanded, making the most of Kerrigan's valiant sacrifice, as well as the sacrifices of Zagara, Zeratul, and every other intelligent creature who perished to help make this future possible.

Empires have fallen, worlds have been shattered, and gods have been slain. Through it all, I endeavoured to lead my forces to victory and secure peace and freedom for all people. History will be the judge of my success, but for now, my saga has ended. Thank you for reading.

Embrace the glory that is your birthright,

The Infested Magistrate

 _A/N:  
With the story of all of Starcraft canon worked through in this alternate infested universe, all that remains to be written is an epilogue explaining what becomes of the Magistrate and his universe. It will cover some of the events experienced by Magis, Nova, Artanis, Alarak, Valerian, Stukov, Dehaka, Earth, and the future civilization of infested immortals. If there are any other individuals whose fates you wish to know, or theories you have about future events, drop a review and let me know, and I'll see if I can't address it in my last update. It's been fun to imagine Magis' story these past few years - thank you for letting me share it with you._


	67. Epilogue

Billions of years have passed since the Immortal Magistrate wrote this sacred text. The "Infested," now known as the Fests, or Festkind, have spread across the universe and transformed galaxies into havens for thousands of flourishing societies. Abathurs and their more highly-evolved replacements have continued to evolve the Fests, so that there is a greater diversity in the kinds of creatures that have inherited Fest society than could have ever been dreamt of when The Visionary Magistrate first laid its foundation. Most remain humanoids of varying sizes and shapes, but aquatic planets are populated by fishlike Fest with fins and gills, and gaseous planets by birdlike Fest with full wings tailored for their particular atmosphere, and so on. But three features remain unchanged among Fests across the universe: they are naturally immortal, killable only by extreme violence; the hivemind prevents them from intentionally harming one another, maintaining lasting peace across every sector under Fest control; and they all have access of some kind to the Sacred Text that records the struggle that marked the origin of our blessed civilizations.

Fest scholars have posed many questions about the text and about the eventual fates of the individuals described within. Many such questions remain the subject of much research and speculation, but what details are known are hereby attached to this edition of the Sacred Text as an addendum.

Neither the Legendary Kerrigan nor the Terran known as James Raynor were ever heard from again, nor did they leave any trace that they'd ever been on Tarsonis. The accuracy of the Elder Magistrate's vision of them is unknown. Relatively recent research into the scientific nature of void energy and celestial energy suggests that a being composed of celestial energy should have been incapable of escaping a collapsing void zone, though the trustworthiness of this research remains the subject of much debate.

However, ancient scientists reported a strange regrowth of animal and plant life on formerly barren planets across the Koprulu sector, as well as an impossibly high number of habitable planets beyond the sector. The origin of these vast changes is unknown, but the measurable quantity of celestial energy commonplace on many of these restored planets prompted a popular theory that the Ascended Kerrigan is responsible. When the Sage Magistrate was consulted, he claimed to know nothing about it, but was reported to have first responded with a curious smile.

Under the steady leadership of Emperor Valerian Mengsk and Admiral Matthew Horner, the Dominion settled into an uneasy peace with their alien neighbors. There were initial difficulties as pirate groups refused to disarm and assimilate into the Dominion, but the threat of annihilation by the Zerg and the influence of the powerful mercenary Mira Han (who was perfectly willing to do whatever would ingratiate herself with Matthew Horner as long as she was amply paid and still permitted small-scale explosives for "recreational purposes") were eventually enough to sway them. Valerian, Matthew, Mira, and most of the rest of the Dominion Terrans of that era never did submit to infestation, but lived and died weary of war and content with the new status quo.

The smaller Umojan Protectorate, the last independent group of Terrans in the Koprulu sector, wisely kept to themselves and made no trouble for the Zerg for decades. The Calculating Magistrate thought it best to leave them to their own devices rather than be seen attacking noncombatants, expecting their civilization to collapse on its own accord soon enough. However, he did send changeling spies to scout military installations and to distribute information concerning his free offer of infestation throughout Umojan society.

Thanks to one such spy, he eventually discovered the disastrous results of a secret Umojan experiment soon after most of the Umojans did. It seemed that, knowing they could not defeat the Commanding Magistrate in a conventional war, they had tried to build robotic Zerg which could pass undetected amongst the Swarm and even emit a psi signal akin to a broodmother's to take control of entire broods. The data they had retrieved from their studies of the Once-Terran Magistrate and the Queenly Kerrigan with Valerian had aided them greatly in this endeavor.

However, the Umojans quickly lost control of the cybernetic Zerg due to so accurately simulating the fleshy Zerg that the simulants could hear and respond to the Omnivigilant Magistrate's Overmind control signal. As the Generous Magistrate had left standing orders for all Zerg to avoid Umojan territory, the simulant Zerg immediately attempted to escape and violently succeeded. With the project's cover blown and most of the personnel responsible dead, the Umojans had no choice but to admit their mistake when the Patient Magistrate rallied his Swarm to their celestial doorstep. The Entreating Magistrate demanded that in light of their unprovoked attempt at aggressive action against the Zerg, they must surrender, disarm themselves, and join the Dominion as a vassal state of the Zerg. Knowing they could not win a war and now having no alternatives, the Umojans capitulated to the Magistrate's demands. Ever since those events, the Fest have used 'Umojan' as a synonym for 'inept,' and that term has survived long past the death of Umojan society, which over the succeeding millenia assimilated into the Dominion until there was only one Terran society.

That Terran society, however, eventually forgot the lessons of their ancestors. Many covert rebellions against Fest control have risen up across the ages (and as the Farseeing Magistrate predicted, Carolina Davis was treated as a figurehead for more than one of them), but none have accomplished much of significance. Still, it has come to be accepted among the Fest that war is an ineradicable proclivity of Terran nature, and many Fest have thus demanded a full-scale infestation of the remaining Terrans for the sake of immortal safety. The Trustworthy Magistrate has always overridden such suggestions, keeping his agreement with the Almighty Nova, and even those Terrans who have been caught threatening the life of an Immortal Fest have still been permitted a choice between infestation or death. Thus, Terran society endures to this day as one of many tiny vassal states of the far-reaching Fest civilization.

All Terrans, and all members of more recently discovered sapient species capable of undergoing infestation, are required to formally choose whether to live as they are or to submit to infestation upon coming of age. All hospitals and other locations where dying mortals are common are required to provide access to infestation for those who prefer it to death. Evolutions in the infestation process have enabled even the very sick to undergo the metamorphosis with a survival rate of over ninety-nine percent. Much painstaking research has gone into discovering a way to resuscitate the remainder or revive those who die unexpectedly, but so far true resurrection, as opposed to mere cloning duplication or unintelligent reanimation, has proven impossible once too many brain cells die.

The unified Protoss never again battle the Fest or their Zerg servants, as they never again have a reason to. The Diplomatic Magistrate ensured that, as did Artanis for the remaining millenia of his life. Protoss medicine and cybernetics, aided by the Compassionate Magistrate and his Abathurs, eventually advanced to the point where even without infestation the Protoss were able to achieve true immortality, but many millenia too late for those the Remembering Magistrate had fought alongside in the End War. Still, while they lived, Artanis, Vorazun, Karax, Selendis, and the rest of the veteran Protoss taught their children about the Zerg's role in securing their future. Thus, the Fest and the Protoss remained allies and eventually explored the stars together, fighting side by side against the new villains and monsters they encountered.

In one particularly vicious such battle against a race of disturbing monsters who lived several sectors to the north of the Koprulu sector and who had evolved spacefaring abilities despite their only thoughts, according to the telepathic Protoss, consisting of screams, the Spear of Adun was destroyed. The 'screamers', as they came to be called (though they were completely silent to those who could not read minds), were made of a strange substance that the history recordings describe as "hardened shadow," and they were tough, numerous, and vicious enough that they could have overcome any of the races of the Koprulu sector during the time of the Great Wars. Thankfully, by the time they were discovered, the Fest had grown strong enough that when their full military might was turned on the screamers in retaliation for Protoss lives lost, billions of the monsters were exterminated every battle. After a lengthy campaign, the screamers were utterly annihilated, though their genetic sequences were retained by the Abathurs and assimilated into the swarm as a new Zerg strain (minus the telepathic screaming). Events such as these were not unusual as the Fest expanded, millions such alien species have been infested (if sapient) or assimilated (if not), but these events were particularly noteworthy for marking the end of Protoss expansion. Between losing the easy colonization aid of their arkship, remembering their traumatizing encounter with the telepathic screamers, and their naturally slow rate of reproduction, the unified Protoss elected to forever remain near the Koprulu sector. The Fest now outnumber the unified Protoss by an estimated proportion of several trillion to one, but the curious tourist with the means to travel to their home regions can still encounter these honorable aliens.

Highlord Alarak, however, declined an alliance with the unified Protoss, and his people came into conflict with both the Destined Magistrate's Swarm and the unified Protoss several more times after the battle of Vardona. Finally, the Long-Suffering Magistrate tired of dealing with Alarak's demands and warmongering, and together with the unified Protoss, stamped out the Tal'Darim for good. There was talk of challenging Alarak to the Tal'Darim rite of succession, and either uplifting a willing Tal'Darim puppet or breaking tradition and insisting one of Artanis' Protoss, or even the Lordly Magistrate himself, participate in the rite. However, Alarak's psionic power was so great that there would be a significant chance of losing any such challenge, and the Wise Magistrate argued that Tal'Darim culture was inherently too hierarchical and combative for it to ever find a place in a peaceful galaxy, even if controlled by the unified Protoss or the Fest. Thus, the overwhelming might of the Zerg Swarm and of the New Golden Armada were brought to bear against Alarak's forces, and after a grueling series of battles, Alarak and his warriors were finally defeated. They refused to surrender even when their homeworld was ruined and their military broken, and it was the Assassin Nova who finally killed the defiant Alarak in a chaotic battle deep within the jungles of Slayn. Surviving warriors and any civilian Tal'Darim who were not met on the field of battle were permitted one opportunity to join the unified Protoss. Few took it.

The Peaceful Magistrate was content to leave the Purifiers in stasis perpetually, but when the unified Protoss returned to Endion and reclaimed their research facilities there, debate erupted once more amongst the unified Protoss concerning whether to awaken them. Eventually, the decision was made, in large part due to the urging of their robotic companion "Fenix," to reconstruct the Monlyth and reawaken the Purifiers. When this was done, Artanis invited the Guardian Magistrate to witness the event and to be ready with his fleet should the Purifiers turn out to be unreasonable and a threat to the Protoss and the Zerg, as many feared. By all accounts, the hours after the Purifiers were awakened were tense, with the Purifiers emerging angry and confused, but eventually Artanis and the Persuasive Magistrate were able to convince them to assimilate peacefully into the new Protoss regime on the condition that they be treated as full and proud Protoss warriors, rather than second-class clone servants. The Purifiers dwelt among the unified Protoss for thousands of years, and their aid was invaluable in advancing Protoss cybernetics to the point of enabling true Protoss immortality, but the unified Protoss decided it best to never attempt to create new Purifiers, and the original Purifiers were constructed with imperfect neural lattices that degraded over time. Thus, by the time a hundred thousand years had passed, the Purifiers were extinct, and are now merely a legend, a footnote in the annals of Protoss history.

It is uncertain what became of Dehaka and the primal Zerg, who were missing from Zerus when the Exploring Magistrate's Swarm returned to that ancestral homeland. However, millions of years later, a group of Fest reported trying to establish a colony with their Zerg servants on a strange habitable planet in a distant galaxy. This planet was populated by feral animals with an incredible diversity of physical features, unlike anything known to Festkind. The colonists were stopped by a massive creature, as large as a small moon, who had been sleeping underground until they accidently woke him from his slumber. By all accounts, after chasing the settlers off the planet the creature returned to sleeping, and once the colonists warped away, Fest explorers were never again able to locate the planet. Similar odd events have occurred throughout the history of Fest exploration, but when word of this encounter reached the Listening Magistrate through the hivemind, he declared the slumbering behemoth was most likely his one-time ally, apparently finally content with the essence he had acquired. Because of the creature's immense power, the Wary Magistrate ordered that none risk waking him again.

When the Fest began expanding, the Careful Magistrate insisted we give Earth, the ancestral homeworld of the Terrans, a wide berth. His experiences with the UED suggested Earth would never accept infestation voluntarily, and he felt content to wait until the UED tried to invade the Koprulu sector once again. They never did. Millenia later, the Curious Magistrate finally approved an expedition to the Terran homeworld, one led by a former captain of the UED who had submitted to infestation after the Battle of Three Fleets over Char. The captain's expedition found a long-dead planet full of irradiated wastelands and seas of toxic sludge. After much investigation, it was determined that the UED had collapsed and the redivided Terrans had warred with themselves once more. The reason for the collapse and subsequent conflict remains an uncertain subject of much speculation, but it is clear that the conflict ended with the unleashing of weapons of incredible destructive power unlike anything the Koprulu sector had ever seen, not even during the Confederate glassing of Korhal. The survivors of that conflict, scattered across both Earth and the nearby Terran colonies dependent on Earth, only managed to eek out a living for another few centuries, or millennia in a couple places, remembering in myths and legends the days their civilization ruled the stars as they waited to succumb to their civilization's slow death. The Sorrowful Magistrate regretted not having visited Earth sooner to rescue her people through the wonder of infestation.

The Terrans in the Koprulu sector eventually learned of their status as the last remnant of their species, and the Protective Magistrate redoubled his efforts to keep the short-lived species from going extinct under his watch. The All-Seeing Magistrate became a godlike figure to the Terrans, as he continued to live through thousands of Terran generations. No religions around him developed, for he discouraged that sort of thing, but "By the Magistrate!" or some variation thereof stayed the most popular Terran swear for millions of years, and many rituals popped up surrounding the coming of age and death's door decisions concerning whether to submit to infestation.

The Supreme Nova and the Giving Magistrate have remained together throughout the age of the Fest. They now travel the universe, overseeing Fest expansion efforts and negotiating with newly discovered sapient species. They have been known to separate occasionally for centuries at a time, but have always come together again. Though they make no secret of their movements or habits and share many of their experiences with the hivemind, their status as celebrities and rulers, as the Fest Overmind and his Beloved Consort, subjects them to a level of scrutiny that none of the other Fest are subject to, and so they have retained some privacy about their personal lives. The question of whether they will hatch children together has remained a prime source of gossip for nearly the whole duration of their reign, but the Fest have no princes or princesses as of yet. Still, the Circumspect Magistrate has set up a line of succession in the ungodly event of his violent death, beginning with the Awesome Nova, and continuing with his friend Stukov and other Fest that have risen to prominence in the millenia following the writing of the Sacred Text.

Speaking of the great Stukov, while the Governing Magistrate travels widely, his comrade Stukov has remained in the Koprulu sector, ruling over the Fest from ancient hive clusters on the historical planets of Char and Tarsonis. He oversees Fest relations with the Terrans and the Protoss, and continues his project of creating ever more useful infested machinery. For instance, while the robotic Zerg created by the Umojans have long since broken down, the great Stukov's experiments have yielded far superior cybernetic Zerg, assisting in advancing Zerg evolution through a synthesis of flesh and machine as surely as any Abathur did by flesh alone.

In fact, due to the efforts of him and his followers, Fest technology evolved as rapidly as Zerg biology. In addition to advancements in military arms and armament, we have made great strides in our ability to use infested machinery for more civilian pursuits such as terraforming hostile environments, processing creep to satisfy a variety of culinary palates, and constructing all manner of recreational equipment. Psi-manipulation equipment has also developed incredibly since the Ancient Days. Portable psi emitters and psi amplifiers are now commonplace tools to help the Fest guide and control their zerg minions and communicate with other Fest even across vast stellar distances. Psi disruptors have been banned for almost that entire time, due to their potential to permit violence between Fest or their zerg minions. Because of the great difficulty of both constructing a working psi disruptor and of hiding such construction from others in the hivemind, there have been impressively few incidents of a new psi disruptor's activation throughout Fest history, though the few incidents that have occurred always make it into the history recordings. And psi disruptors remain an ever-present plot device in much of Fest fiction, especially horror stories, as isolating a group of Fest from calling for help via the hivemind is a common trope in such stories.

Psi recorders and psi transmitters are even more ubiquitous than other psi devices. Psi recorders enable one to record and manipulate sensory data, much like a Terran camera or computer animation program, but far more versatile, enabling dedicated Fest to construct any sort of sensory experience they wish for other Fest to enjoy. Psi recorders are usually paired with psi transmitters, which can broadcast this sensory data on receivable psionic wavelengths across the depths of space. Chains of psi transmitters function to keep Fest in contact throughout a galaxy, as well as to share artfully constructed fictional experiences. In Terran terms, we have universal virtual reality, internet, and television. These marvelous devices are the product of centuries of effort by Fest scientists and engineers, and much of the endless time of the Fest is taken up creating and enjoying all manner of fantastical experiences via Psi recorders and transmitters.

Though psionic research has developed nicely, void and celestial energy and their variations (such as the null zone energy utilized by Narud in the Defending Magistrate's battle with him, or the solar energy used by some Protoss equipment) remain poorly understood. Instruments have been developed to measure them, and celestial energy has been measured as congregating around stars and void energy as congregating in deep space, but no technology capable of creating or manipulating such energy has been developed, nor, some argue, can be developed. Research into how the Protoss and a handful of other discovered sapient species can manipulate some such energies has yielded little fruit. In some ways, the energies act like the ancient concept of magic, and another common trope in Fest fiction is using such energies to handwavingly explain unusual circumstances or abilities.

Finally, Fest poets and playwrights have described the Satisfied Magistrate as living "happily ever after," but it is often present in the minds of scholars that even "ever after" has an ending. For while the Fest are immortal and eternal, the universe is not. Even if we survive until the end of time, time will end, and the Godly Magistrate, no longer recognizable as the infested human who had once upon a time grown up in a Confederacy and defeated a Xel'Naga, will die content.

The manner of this end remains controversial. Some say the universe will end in ice, as all heat bleeds out from the galaxies, and others say in fire, as the stars grow to consume all matter. A few even believe that Amon's legacy lives on, and it is void energy that will eventually destroy existence itself. But many of us who have studied the Sacred Texts and read much concerning the persistent mysteries of this universe adopt a different theory.

We believe that when the Final Magistrate and his Fest confront that ultimate end, we will be met by a soft golden celestial light.

…

 _A/N_

 _And thus the Infested Magistrate's story concludes. Thank you for reading!_


End file.
